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Drummond,  James,  1815-1861. 

Thoughts  for  the  Christian 

life 


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THOUGHTS 


FOR 


THE    CHRISTIAN    LIFE 


BY 

Rev.    JAMES    DRUMMOND. 


WITH    AN   INTRODUCTION   BY    J.    G.    HOLLAND. 


NEW   YOIIK: 

CHARLES    SCPvIBNER,    12J:    GRAND    STREET. 

1864. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1864,  by 

CHARLES   SCRIBNER, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  Southern 

District  of  New  York. 


JOHN  V.  TROW, 

PRINTER,   STEREOTYPEH,   AND    JELECTROTYPER, 

oo  Greeue  street,  New  York. 


TO 

THE    EAPwLY     FRIENDS     OF     MANY     TEAKS, 

AND   TO 
THOSE     MORE     RECENTLY     WON,      WHOSE 

EIR    PASTOR 

THIS   VOLUME   IS 

AFFECTIONATELY     INSCRIBED. 


COISTTENTS. 


PAGE 

I.     The  Constraining  Power  of  a  Personal  Attachment  to 

Christ,  .  .  .  .  .  .9 

II.     The  Goodness  of  God,  ....  27 

III.  Christians — the  Heritage  of  God,  .  .  .38 

IV.  God's  Ownership  in  Man,       .  .  ;  .  48 
V.     One  Way  op  Salvation,    .            .            .            .            .59 

VI.  Faith  Rooted  in  Darkness,    ....  70 

VII.  Seeking  Eternal  Things,              .            .            .  .83 

VIII.  Value  of  Thought  on  Invisible  Things,        .            .  93 

IX.  The  Restraints  of  Christianity,              .            .  .  104 

X.  Constant  and  Abounding  Work  for  God,      .            .  115 

XI.  Spiritual  Labor — its  Incentive  and  Reward,     .  .124 

XII.  All  Things  Conducing  to  the  Christian's  Good,       .  134 

XIII.  Human  Judgments  Correct,  as  our  Wills  accord  with 

God's, 144 

XIV.  The  Integrity  of  the  Divine  Judge,  .  .         155 
XV.     The  Fixed  Heart,              .            .            .            .  .166 

XVI.     The  Glory  of  God  the  Governing  Principle  of  all 

Life, 177 

XVII.     Fear — Controlling  and  Controlled,       ,  .  .187 

XVIII.     The  Earthly  Burden  and  the  Divine  Supporter,      .         197 


VI 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

208 
218 
227 
239 
,  251 


XIX.     The  Christian's  Priestly  Function, 
XX.     The  Gift  and  its  Use, 
XXI.     The  Law  of  Spiritual  Growth, 
XXII.     The  Autuoritativeness  of  Christ's  Teachings, 

XXIII.  Light  and  its  Responsibilities,  .        *  . 

XXIV.  The   Christian's    Life    Dependent    on    the   Life   of 

Christ,       .  .  .  .  ^.  .201 

XXV.     God  the  Spring  of  all  Mercy  and  Comfort,     .  .  2V0 

XXVI,     The  Attractive  Power  of  Christ  on  the  Cross,     .         281 
XXVII.     The  Defenders   of  the  Christian  more  than  his  As- 
sailants, ......  291 

XXVIII.     God  our  Helpfr, 308 

XXIX.     Mysteries  Unveiled  in  the  Future,      .  .  .  319 

XXX.     Position   and   Character  coincident    in  the  Divine 

Realm,       ......  329 

XXXI.     Many  Mansions  in  the  Father's  House,  .  .  339 

XXXII.     The  Perfect  Satisfaction  of  the  Saints  in  Heaven,       349 

XXXIII.     The  Eternity  op  the  Affections,  .  .  .  359 


INTROD  UCTION 


Rev.  James  Dkfmmond,  the  author  of  this  volume 
of  sermons,  was  my  pastor  during  the  last  three  years 
of  his  ministry.  It  is  now  more  than  two  years  since 
he  passed  to  his  reward ;  and  it  is  sweet  to  find  that 
memory,  which  so  often  grows  faint,  or  proves  false, 
keeps  even  wing  with  him  in  his  upward  flight,  and  pre- 
sents him  to  me  more  as  he  is,  with  each  day's  growing 
glory,  than  as  he  was  in  the  feeble  days  of  his  earthly 
life.  It  is  sweet  to  find  the  frail  and  pain-haunted  man, 
who  was  my  friend,  brother,  teacher,  and  inspirer,  trans- 
formed in  my  imagination  into  an  angel,  thrilled  by 
heaven's  sublime  surprises,  and  plumed  for  its  painless 
service.  If  I  saw  a  defect  in  him  while  living,  it  is  now 
effaced.  If  he  had  a  quality  of  mind  or  a  peculiarity 
of  manner  Avhich  seemed  a  discord  in  the  heavenly  tune 
his  life  was  singing,  I  have  forgotten  it.  I  can  only 
think  of  him  now  as  transfigured — as  "  a  perfect  man  in 
Christ  Jesus." 

The  selection  of  the  sermons  contained  in  this  vol- 
ume is  not  mine,  but  that  of  one  whose  excellent  judg- 


Vm  ^  INTRODrCTION. 

ment  and  whose  sacred  relations  to  their  author  give  her 
equal  authority  and  ability  to  make  it.  They  undoubt- 
edly present  his  characteristic  style  of  thought  and  mode 
of  expression,  and  combine  in  the  highest  attainable 
degree  the  peculiar  food  which  it  seemed  his  mission  to 
furnish  for  the  Christian  life.  They  are  published  not 
because  a  few  partial  friends  desire  it,  but  because  those 
whose  judgment  deserves  respect  consider  them  exceed- 
ingly valuable,  and  believe  that  they  cannot  fail  to  find 
a  very  wide  distribution  among  the  thoughtful  Christians 
of  America. 

Without  speaking  of  the  sermons  more  definitely 
than  this  at  present,  it  is  proi)er  to  satisfy  at  once  the 
reader's  wish  to  know  something  about  the  author.  The 
when  and  where  of  his  personal  history  can  be  very 
briefly  recorded.  He  was  born  in  Bristol,  Me.,  April 
15,  1815  ;  fitted  for  college  at  the  old  Lincoln  Academy 
of  Newcastle,  in  that  State ;  entered  Bowdoin  College 
in  the  autumn  of  1832  ;  graduated  in  1836,  and  became 
at  once  principal  of  the  academy  in  which  he  pursued 
his  preparatory  studies.  After  remaining  in  the  most 
satisfactory  discharge  of  the  duties  of  this  position  for 
two  years,  he  commenced  his  theological  studies  in 
Union  Theological  Seminary,  New  York,  where  he  pur- 
sued them  for  two  years,  closing  them  with  a  year's  con- 
nection with  the  Bangor  Seminary,  in  his  native  State. 
On  the  12th  of  October,  1842,  he  was  ordained  at  Lewis- 
ton  Falls,  and  installed  over  the  Congregational  Church 
there,  having  already  supplied  its  pulpit  for  a  year.  He 
remained  in  this  connection  until  1858 — a  period  of  six- 


INTRODUCTION.  IX 

teen  years.  On  the  16th  of  June  of  that  year  he  was 
installed  as  pastor  of  the  North  Congregational  Church 
in  Springfield,  Mass.,  in  which  office  he  remained  until 
his  death,  which  took  place  in  Lynn,  at  the  house  of  his 
brother-in-law.  Rev.  J.  B.  Sew  all,  on  the  29th  of  No- 
vember, 1861.  His  dust  reposes  in  the  Springfield 
Cemetery,  beneath  a  monument  Avhose  solidity  and 
beauty  express  at  once  the  value  of  his  character  and 
the  strength  of  the  afiection  with  which  he  is  remem- 
bered. 

Mr.  Drummond  was  a  Christian  who  believed  in 
Christianity.  He  was  sublimely — sometimes  awfully — 
in  earnest.  I  have  never  known  a  man  who  seemed  so 
thoroughly  to  realize  the  responsibilities  of  the  Christian 
pulpit,  and  the  tremendous  import  of  the  truths  with 
which  he  dealt,  as  he.  Profoundly  impressed  with  the 
un worthiness  of  his  own  character,  pitying  the  sinful 
world  around  him  with  a  heart  full  of  tears,  haunted  by 
the  sad  contemplation  of  the  doom  of  imchristian  men, 
religion  was  to  him  a  grand,  all-subordinating  reality. 
Life  itself  was,  in  many  of  its  respects,  an  awful  thing 
to  him ;  and  the  obscure  problems  of  the  universe — the 
destiny  of  his  race — the  mysteries  of  God's  moral  gov- 
ernment— the  scheme  of  Christian  salvation — these  en- 
thralled him,  possessed  him,  often  almost  crushed  him. 
Preaching,  with  him,  was  something  more  than  a  holi- 
day show  of  rhetoric — a  pleasant  utterance  of  general 
religious  truths.  He  spoke  as  one  commissioned  of 
Heaven ;  and  he  could  not  have  been  more  in  earnest  if 
he  had  been  favored  with  a  vision  of  the  eternal  city,  or 
1 


X  INTKODrCTION.  • 

been  permitted  to  gaze  upon  the  perdition  of  ungodly 
men. 

Yet,  with  all  his  loyalty  to  the  truth  as  he  found  it 
revealed  in  the  Bible — for  this  was  his  sole  authority  in 
all  matters  relating  to  religion — with  all  his  faithfulness 
in  the  preaching  of  doctrines  the  most  terrible  to  him- 
self and  the  most  unpalatable  to  others,  he  always  pre- 
sented himself  to  men  as  a  loving,  pitying^brother.  The 
lesson  he  had  learned  of  his  own  heart  was  a  lesson  of 
charity  toward  all  men.  There  was  no  man  so  bad  that 
he  could  not  find  something  amiable  in  him  ;  there  was 
no  deed  so  base  that  he  did  not  see  in  the  doer's  circum- 
stances some  explanation  of  it,  or  palliation  for  it.  He 
loved  men,  women,  and  children — loved  his  kind  with  a 
positive  affection — with  a  passion  as  constant  and  true  as 
he  exercised  toward  the  precious  ones  of  his  own  house- 
hold. His  sympathies  were  universal.  He  was  at  home 
with  the  coarse  as  well  as  the  refined,  loved  to  talk  with 
the  humble,  always  found  it  impossible  to  refuse  money 
to  those  who  asked  for  it,  and  only  felt  sad  to  think  that 
he  could  do  so  little,  and  had  so  little  to  give,  to  make 
men  happier  and  better. 

And  if  Mr.  Drummond  was  generous  in  the  bestowal 
of  affection,  he  was  equally  desirous  of  a  return  in  kind. 
No  man  ever  loved  better  and  more  widely  than  he, 
and  no  man  ever  craved  affection  more.  To  be  loved 
warmly,  tenderly,  strongly  by  those  around  him  to 
whom  he  gave  the  efforts  of  his  life,  wa^  a  desire  second 
only  in  his  heart  to  that  of  being  loved  and  approved  by 
his  Master.     Fame  he  did  not  seek  for ;  money  he  did 


INTRODUCTION.  XI 

not  care  for  ;  position  had  no  charms  for  him  ;  but  love 
— human  love — he  bathed  his  soul  in  it  as  a  bird  bathes 
her  dusty  and  drooping  feathers  at  a  fountain.  Love 
soothed  him,  comforted  him,  feasted  and  refreshed  him. 
He  was  like  a  child  in  this.  Love  healed  his  wounds, 
rewarded  his  pains,  and  sweetened  his  life  with  its  most 
precious  delights. 

A  mind  so  much  in  earnest  as  his,  engaged  in  such 
contemplations  and  such  labors,  could  not  exist  in  a  frail 
body  in  which  the  nervous  organization  predominated, 
without  producing  either  occasional  or  general  depres- 
sion. He  was  born  by  the  sea,  and  it  always  seemed  as 
if  the  sea  gave  to  his  life  its  kejTiote.  The  boy  who 
stood  upon  the  shore,  looking  out  upon  its  limitless 
waters,  dreaming  of  its  mysteries,  and  seeing  the  dim 
sails  sliding  along  the  edge  of  the  far  horizon,  and 
fading  from  sight,  or  watching  the  breakers  as  they 
rolled  in  u2)on  the  rocky  coast,  is  the  man  who,  through 
all  his  life,  stood  by  the  shore  of  a  wider  sea,  dreaming 
of  greater  mysteries,  covered  with  questions  that  came 
and  went  with  the  Avind,  or  lashed  by  storms  whose 
thunderous  waves  shook  him  where  he  stood  like  the 
convulsions  of  an  earthquake.  The  burden  of  thought 
and  feeling  was  always  too  heavy ;  and,  in  the  contem- 
plation of  himself  and  of  his  work,  he  was  almost  con- 
stantly depressed.  With  a  rational  conviction  that  a 
Christian  ought  to  be  the  happiest  man  in  the  world, 
and  with  a  Christian  faith  that  he  would  not  have  sur- 
rendered for  ten  thousand  worlds,  he  very  rarely  found 
himself  the  possessor  of  genuine  Christian  joy.     He  was 


Xll  INTEODUCTION. 

a  sick  man  during  all  his  professional  life,  often  sleep- 
less, always  thoughtful,  bearing  about  in  his  body  the 
dying  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  with  all  the  burdens  that  his 
mind  associated  with  the  infinite  passion,  until  that  body 
tottered  under  its  load,  and  fell. 

In  intellectual  power  and  quality,  Mr.  Druramond 
was  not  only  an  uncommon  man,  but  an  uncommon  style 
of  man.  He  was  an  original  thinker — a  man  whose  ser- 
mons never  could  be  predicted  from  the  texts  which 
formed  their  subjects.  I  do  not  mean,  of  course,  that 
he  labored  to  find  strange  lines  of  thought,  or  sought  to 
present  truth  in  unexpected  aspects.  The  fact  was,  that 
he  possessed  a  most  distinctly  marked  individuality, 
which  seemed  to  hold  its  independent  relations  to  all 
truth,  so  that,  when  he  spoke,  everybody  expected  to 
hear  something  fresh — something  he  had  never  heard 
before,  and  something  which  no  one  else  could  have  said 
or  thought  of.  His  familiar  expositions  of  the  Scrip- 
tures at  evening  meetings,  or  during  the  public  readings 
of  the  Sabbath,  were  always  remarkable  for  their  fresh- 
ness. So  truly  was  this  the  case,  that  it  w^as  said,  after 
he  removed  to  Springfield,  by  one  of  his  new  flock,  that 
Mr.  Drummond  had  brought  a  new  Bible  with  him.  His 
reading  of  the  Bible  was  itself  an  exposition,  so  thor- 
oughly did  he  seem  to  imderstand  and  weigh  the  truths 
to  which  he  was  giving  utterance.  Though  delighting 
in  metaphysical  research  and  labor,  he  never  forgot  his 
office,  but  always  aimed  to  deal  in  a  plain  and  practical 
way  with  the  plain  and  practical  people  who  formed  the 
majority  of  his  congregations. 


INTRODUCTION.  Xlll 

In  character,  Mr.  Drummond  was  one  of  the  purest 
and  most  thoroughly  truthful  men  I  have  ever  known. 
He  was  not  only  above  reproach,  but  above  suspicion. 
No  man  with  a  positive  character,  like  that  which  he 
possessed,  ever  passed  through  life  without  enemies ; 
but  slander  herself  never  breathed  a  whisper  against  his 
personal  character.  It  was  so  high,  and  so  open  to  the 
light,  that  all  men  saw  it,  and  even  his  enemies  gave  it 
their  reverence.  He  combined  the  two  characteristics 
of  worldly  wisdom  and  childlikeness  in  a  most  unusual 
degree.  Reading  character  with  the  quickness  of  intui- 
tion, managing  his  relations  with  the  two  flocks  of 
which  he  was  the  pastor  with  rare  sagacity,  finding  his 
way  to  the  hearts  of  those  whom  he  wished  to  benefit 
with  a  tact  that  was  marvellous,  he  was  as  simple  in  liis 
tastes  and  feelings  and  as  truthful  as  a  boy.  He  seemed 
to  have  great  faith  in  men,  yet  was  never  unconscious 
of  their  imperfections.  He  loved  everything  that  was 
noble  and  gallant  and  good,  admired  everything  that  was 
strong  and  daring  and  beautiful,  despised  with  all  the 
intensity  of  his  intense  nature  everything  that  was  mean 
and  cowardly,  and  hated  and  denounced  all  that  was 
wrong.  Longing  for  the  redemption  of  the  world,  and 
laboring  and  praying  for  its  elevation,  the  slowness  of 
the  progress  of  Christianity,  and  the  prevalence  of  vice, 
poverty  and  wretcliedness  distressed  him,  and  almost 
plunged  him  into  despair. 

In  the  pulpit  he  was  a  man  of  power.  He  always 
had  something  new  to  say,  and  a  striking  and  impressive 
way  of  saying  it ;  yet  I  have  sometimes  thought  that  his 


XIV  INTKODUCTION. 

sermons  were  hardly  more  impressive  than  his  pi'ayers. 
In  these  exercises  he  often  became  so  absorbed  and  en- 
raptured, that  he  seemed  to  lose  the  consciousness  that 
there  was  an  audience  before  him,  turnhig  partly  around 
w^here  he  stood,  and  talking  like  a  man  inspired.  His 
prayers  were  indeed  a  pouring  out  of  his  heart  before 
God. 

A  pale-faced  man,  broad  and  a  little  stooping  in  the 
shoulders — a  tall  frame,  with  small  muscles  filled  with 
nervous  energy  in  every  fibre^ — a  pair  of  kind,  blue  eyes, 
sometimes  looking  through  glasses  constantly  worn,  and 
sometimes  peering  over  them — a  head  covered  heavily 
with  light  brown  hair — action  sometimes  angular  and 
hard,  sometimes  the  perfection  of  powder  and  grace,  but 
always  impressive — these  words  will  do,  perhaps,  what 
words  can  do,  to  present  Mr.  Drummond,  as  he  stood  in 
his  pulpit,  to  those  wdio  have  never  seen  him  there.  His 
audiences  were  always  still,  and  always  awake.  No  man 
could  hear  him  and  withhold  from  him  his  attention. 
Usually  calm  and  measured  in  his  utterances,  he  often 
left  the  text  of  his  sermons,  and  rose  into  a  passion  and 
power  of  eloquence  that  shook  him  as  a  reed  is  shaken 
by  a  hurricane,  thrilling  his  hearers,  and  making  fearful 
drafts  upon  his  own  vital  resources. 

It  would  naturally  be  supposed  that  a  preacher  pos- 
sessing Mr.  Drummond's  reverence  for  the  Bible,  and  his 
rare  power  of  exposing  and  explaining  it,  w^ould  choose 
his  subjects  mainly  from  the  sacred  text :  and  this  was 
the  case ;  though  he  never  forgot,  in  the  selection  of 
topics,  the  wants  of  his  people,  or  turned  a  deaf  ear  to 


INTRODUCTION.  '  XV 

the  suggestions  of  current  events.  It  was  the  criticism 
of  one  of  his  brothers  in  the  ministry,  that  he  "  loaded 
too  lightly;"  and  the  criticism  was  based  upon  the  fact 
that  he  rarely  undertook  to  present  more  than  one  great, 
vital  truth  in  a  single  sermon.  He  always  went  to  work 
upon  a  sermon  with  a  definite  aim — with  a  single  object 
in  his  mind  which  he  wished  *to  accomplish  ;  and  it  was 
his  theory,  that  if  he  could  plant  one  great,  pi'actical 
Christian  truth  or  motive  in  the  hearts  and  minds  of  his 
audiences,  by  the  talk  of  half  an  hour,  it  Avas  all  he 
could  hope  to  do.  He  therefore  never  selected  a  subject 
that  did  not  have  a  direct  and  immediate  relation  to  the 
condition  and  the  wants  of  his  congregation  ;  and,  when 
he  had  selected  it,  he  sacrificed  everything  it  was  neces- 
sary to  sacrifice,  and  did  everything  in  his  power  to  do, 
to  make  it  tell  for  good  upon  those  for  whom  he  labored. 
He  presented  the  central,  vital  thought  of  each  sermon 
in  all  possible  aspects — sometimes  with  iteration  and  I'e- 
iteration — and  then  drove  it  home  to  the  hearts  for 
which  it  had  been  prepared,  with  all  the  persuasion  there 
is  in  love  and  all  the  power  there  is  in  logic. 

His  mode  of  writing  and  preaching  was  peculiar. 
Nearly  all  his  sermons  were  written  at  a  single  sitting. 
To  his  nervous  and  feeble  body  the  confinement  of 
writing  was  as  painful,  almost,  as  crucifixion  would  have 
been.  His  sermons  were  therefore  thought  out  as  he  sat 
reading,  as  he  walked  the  streets,  upon  his  bed ;  and, 
when  he  sat  down  to  write,  he  had  only  to  record  with 
great  rapidity  the  sermon  which  had  already  passed 
through  the  mental  laboratory.     He  always  wrote  briefly 


XVI  INTRODUCTION. 

and  completely  ;  yet  it  is  doubtless  true,  that  not  a  single 
sermon  in  this  volume  was  delivered  as  it  is  here  printed. 
Preaching  always  inspired  him,  and  he  seemed  sometimes 
almost  to  revel  in  the  world  of  fresh  thought  which  his 
own  incisive  utterances  opened  to  him.  Interjections, 
enlargements,  and  additions  quite  transformed  his  ser- 
mons ;  and  the  only  question  I  have  had  concerning  the 
publication  of  this  collection  is,  whether,  after  taking 
away  the  person  of  the  preacher,  with  all  his  magnetism 
and  all  that  he  uttered  mider  the  direct  inspiration  of 
preaching,  there  would  be  enough  left  to  represent  him 
worthily,  and  convey  his  characteristic  j)Ower  to  the 
hearts  of  his  readers.  The  sermons  in  this  volume  are 
therefore  brief,  and  the  reader  has  the  explanation  of 
the  fact ;  and  although  those  who  listened  to  their  deliv- 
ery will  miss  much  of  the  language  they  heard,  I  think 
they  will  find  the  central,  vital  thoughts  intact.  There 
is,  doubtless,  an  advantage  in  brevity,  particularly  in  a 
sermon  which  is  to  be  read ;  and  it  is  possible  that  these 
discourses  will  be  more  acceptable  to  the  general  public 
in  the  present  shape,  than  if  they  were  loaded  with  addi- 
tions inspired  by  occasions  which  are  past,  and  circum- 
stances that  are  not  universal.  As  the  work  of  a  great- 
hearted, large-minded  man,  who  loved  God  and  his  fel- 
lows, and  gave  his  life  a  willing  offering  to  both,  it  is  my 
privilege  to  present  these  sermons  to  the  public.  They 
came  forth  from  a  life  rich  in  Christian  experience,  fer- 
tile in  thought,  and  abounding  in  charity  ;  and  I  am  sure 
that  God  will  breathe  something  of  His  life  through 

them  into  the  world. 

J.  G.  H. 


THO  U  G  HTS 


THE     CHRISTIAN     LIFE 


I. 


THE    CONSTRAINING    POWER    OF    A    PERSONAL 
ATTACHMENT     TO     CHRIST, 

For  the  love  of  Christ  constraineth  iis. — 1  Coe.  v.  14. 

IT  maybe  doubted  whether  Christ's  love  to  Paul  and 
his  fellow  disciples,  or  their  love  to  Him,  was  the 
constraining  impulse  of  their  lives.  Probably  it 
makes  but  little  difference.  Christ's  love  to  us  can 
never  stir  us  till  it  awakens  our  own.  Ilis  throbbing, 
burning  heart  must  quicken  our  cold  and  dead  hearts. 
His  voice  of  affection  must  echo  through  all  the 
chambers  of  our  souls,  and  stir  them  to  right  feeling 
and  action.  Christ  came  to  establish  a  kingdom  of 
love.  He  founded  it  upon  Ilis  own  sufferings  and 
death.  Having  founded  it,  He  went  up  to  heaven, 
and  now  sits  upon  the  throne  of  universal  power, 
superintending  its  concerns.  He  never  intermits  His 
interest  in  it ;  slowly,  steadily,  in  His  own  way.  He  is 


12  THOUGHTS   FOK   THE   CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

studying  Him  longest,  after  loving  Him  most,  the 
richest  in  endowment  are  constrained  to  exclaim  : 
"  Oh,  the  depth  !  "  'No  man,  no  angel  was  ever  yet 
compelled  to  say  of  Him,  that  "  the  bed  is  shorter 
than  that  a  man  can  stretch  himself  on  it ;  and  the 
covering  narrower  than  that  he  can  wrap  himself  in 
it." 

Again,  this  personal  attachment  to  Christ  gives 
the  mightiest  impulse,  affords  the  strongest  and  most 
constant  working  force  that  can  operate  upon  the  hu- 
man soul.  The  problem  which  any  system  that 
would  regenerate  and  save  man  must  solve  is  this ; 
how  to  stir  his  dead  affections,  draw  him  out  of  him- 
self as  a  centre  and  an  end — how  to  set  him  forward 
toward  God  and  heaven  and  all  good  beings,  and 
keep  him  going  in  the  right  paths,  in  spite  of  sloth  and 
passion  and  sin,  with  all  the  steadiness  and  certainty 
with  which  the  stars  move  in  their  orbits ;  no  waver- 
ing, no  backsliding.  Tliis  is  the  problem.  This  must 
be  done,  not  by  an  outward  force,  but  by  an  inward 
one,  that  shall  pierce  to  the  very  centre  of  a  man's 
being,  and  grapple  and  hold  him  in  the  course  to- 
ward God  and  right,  with  a  calm  and  yet  resistless 
energy.  What  shall  effect  this?  What  in  us — I 
mean  not  without,  but  with  the  aids  of  the  Divine 
Spirit  working  voicelessly  in  the  depths  of  our  nature 
— what,  so  far  as  it  comes  within  the  range  of  our 
intelligence,  shall  draw  and  hold  us  to  right  and  duty, 


,  CONSTEAINING    POWER   OF   LOVE   TO   CHEIST.  13 

bear  us  on  clear  into  heaven,  to  mingle  in  its  scenes 
and  employments  ?     Fear  of  coming  wrath  cannot  do 
it.     It  chills  and  freezes.     It  can  block  up  the  path 
to  ruin,  and  make  us  tremble  as  we  go  down  its  slope  ; 
but  it  cannot  draw  to  heaven.     Shall  conscience  ?     Jt 
can  accuse,  drive  us  up  against  the  sharp  edge  of  the 
Law,  and  pierce  and  wound  us ;  it  can  flash  its  lurid 
fires  in  the  face  of  the  soul,  but  it  cannot  impel  us 
constantly  and  joyously  to  self-conquest  and  holiness. 
We  want  something  that  shall  cast  out  fear — some- 
thing that  shall  even  silence  conscience — something 
that  shall  go  over  it  and  sink  it,  as  the  dark  summits 
f  gi-anite  rocks  are  sunk  when  the  tides  of  the  sea 
ow  in  and  cover  them ;  for  a  man  never  knows  that 
le  has  a  conscience  w^hen  he  is  doing  right,  any  more 
han  he  knows  that  he  has  a  heart  when  he  is  well, 
le  gets  grounded  and  pierced  on  the  sharp  points  of 
lis  conscience  when  the  heart's  tides  are  out,  and  is 
floated  off  when  they  come  in.     It  is  not  fear — not 
conscience.     What  is  it  ?     We  believe,  a  strong  per- 
sonal attachment  to  Christ.     This  is  the  working  force 
that  shall  bind  and  hold  us. 

Observe  the  advantages  which  such  a  love  has  to 
effect  this  end.  It  is  love  to  a  person^  not  a  cold,  ab- 
stract princiiDle.  The  soul  of  man  cannot  be  brought 
to  love,  live  for,  fight,  suffer,  die  for  it  alone. 
Principle,  in  its  baldest  shape,  has  its  devotees,  its 
elect  heroes,  who  would  clasp  it,  and  bleed  and  die 


14  TIIOUGITTS   FOR  THE   CHKISTIAN   LIFE. 

for  it.  But  they  are  rare — the  topmost  men  of  the 
race — the  men  who  rise  above  the  common  level,  like 
the  mountain  ranges  ;  and  even  these  cannot  live  and 
work  well  and  joyously  in  the  cold,  clear  region  of 
m.ere  principle.  They  must  leave  the  summits,  wdth 
their  frosty  air  and  their  coronal  of  stars,  and  come 
down  and  work  where  men  live  and  hearts  throb.  If 
we  love  principles  well,  we  love  them  best  incarnated, 
looking  out  of  human  eyes,  and  speaking  in  human 
tones.  There  never  was  that  man  yet  who  would 
not,  if  he  were  going  to  suffer  and  die  for  a  principle, 
prefer  to  die  for  it  as  it  appealed  to  him  in  some  noble 
form  of  man  or  some  lovely  face  of  woman.  We  like 
principle,  but  we  like  men  and  women  embodying 
principle  better.  We  most  of  us  love  warm  flesh  and 
blood.  Armies  have  gone  to  the  tented  field — the 
enthusiastic  movements  of  the  race  have  started  and 
gone  on  under  the  impulse  of  living  men,  not  of  m  ere 
principle.  The  Bible  recognizes  this  tendency  of  the 
race.  It  is  full  of  persons — its  appeal  is  to  persons — 
its  love  is  love  to  persons.  It  is  the  love,  not  of  right, 
but  of  Christ,  that  shall  constrain  us.  Heaven  must 
send  out  its  representative,  must  incarnate  its  concen- 
trated principle  and  love  in  Christ,  and  up  and  out  to 
Him  go  human  affections. 

But  not  only  do  our  affections  go  out  to  persons 
more  tlian  to  abstract  principles,  but  there  is  some- 
thing in  the  very  nature  of  Christ  adapted  to  engage 


CONSTRAINING    POWER    OF   LOVE   TO    CHRIST.  15 

them  most  promptly  and  absorbingly.     That  nature 
we  believe  to  be  peculiar,  unique.     There  is  none  like 
Him  in  creation.     He  stands  out  marked,  distinct  from 
all  others.     We  can  hardly  analyze  and  describe,  or 
pour  our  ideas  of  Him  into  the  moulds  of  human  lan- 
guage.    We  want  some  heavenly  dialect  in  which  to 
set  him  forth.     We  call  Him  man  and  He  is ;  but 
when  we  have  defined  man,  fetched  a  compass  about 
him,  and  included  in  our  survey  all  our  ideas  of  man, 
we  have  not  defined  Christ,  have  not  exhausted  at  all 
our  ideas  of  Him.     We  call  Him  God.     The  Bible 
calls  Him  so.     It  ascribes  such  w^orks  to  Him  that 
w^e  are  left  without  any  proof  of  the  Divine  exist- 
ence if  He  is  not  God.     But  when  ^Ye  w^ish  to  clasp 
His  two  relations  together,  put  a  girdle  around  them 
both,  and  present  Him  to  human  thought  in  His  com- 
plex perfection,  w^e  are  constrained  to  coin  a  term. 
We  find  none  ready  made  to  our  hand.     We  call  Him 
the  God-man,  the  Divine-human,  the  Celestial-terres- 
trial, the  Infinite-finite.     We  thus  bring  Him  down 
to  earth,  and  He  stands  before  us  in  human  form. 
We  thus  exalt  Him  to  heaven,  far  above  hnman  com- 
prehension.     He  is  the  mystic  ladder — its  base  on 
the  earth,  its  top  above  the  clouds.     I^ow  this  Being 
that  we  attempt  to  set  forth  w^ith  such  antagonistic 
phrases,  so  far  removed  from  our  power  of  analysis, 
so  alien,  if  yv")!!  please,  from  our  logic,  is  yet  the  very 
Being  to  affect  our  hearts.     We  cannot  measure  Ilim. 


16  THOUGHTS   FOE   THE   CHEISTlAI^r   LIFE. 

Here^  He  is  a  man ;  tliere^  He  is  a  God,  and  we  can- 
not make  the  edges  of  the  yawning  chasm  that  seems 
forever  to  separate  His  two  natures  to  onr  reason,  ap- 
proach and  coalesce.  "We  know  Him,  and  yet  we  do 
not  know  Him.  Here^  He  is  a  man  of  sorrows,  and 
acquainted  with  grief,  borne  hke  a  lamb  to  the 
slaughter,  and  yet  opening  not  His  mouth — weak  like 
one  of  us ;  there^  He  is  a  God  calling  worlds  into 
being,  ruling  all  nature,  healing  the  sick,  raising  the 
dead,  submitting  to  law,  and  yet  above  it.  It  takes 
His  greatness  with  His  limitations — ^His  strength  and 
His  weakness — His  divinity  and  His  humanity,  to 
affect  us  most.  On  His  one  side  He  is  human — a 
man  and  brother — coming  all  the  way  down  to  us, 
entering  into  our  feelings,  our  experiences — seeing 
men  and  things  out  of  our  eyes,  that  heart  of  His 
bending  to  our  griefs,  and  swelling  with  our  joys. 
We  put  our  heart  to  His,  and  His  answers  it  beat  for 
beat.  We  would  not  miss  that  bending  down  to  us, 
that  standing  side  by  side  with  us,  and  that  thought 
that  now  to-day  in  heaven,  He  retains,  as  written 
upon  an  iron  leaf,  all  that  He  was  and  felt. 

But  then  we  want  more — not  in  another,  but  in 
Him  ;  if  we  can  have  it,  we  want  the  Divine  also — 
the  human  to  know,  to  think  with,  and  feel  with ;  the 
Divine,  to  be  utterly  incomprehensible,  to  encompass 
us,  to  overarch  us,  to  flow  into  our  weakness,  to  seize 
us  and  bear  us  aloft  as  upon  eagles'  wings ;  the  hu- 


CONSTRAINING   POWER    OF   LOVE   TO    CHRIST.  17 

man,  to  grasp — the  Divine,  to  elude  ns ;  the  human, 
to  stand  in  clear,  distinct  outline  before  us — the  Di- 
vine to  tower  infinitely  above,  to  be  lost  in  that  thick 
darkness  that  shrouds  His  throne.  We  want  a  being 
that  shall  come  down  to  our  sympathies,  and  so  stand 
on  the  same  plane  with  us  ;  with  the  tides  of  feeling 
flowing  through  us  both ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  one 
before  whom  we  shall  bow  with  reverence  and  awe — 
the  very  Being  that  we  have  in  Christ,  one  whose 
thoughts  and  feelings  span  that  mighty  void  between 
God  and  man.  The  Bible  gives  us  Christ — the  God- 
with-us — the  Man-divine — that  Being  who  towers 
above  our  reason,  but  grasps  and  holds  our  hearts. 

Now  this  person,  so  unique,  so  divinely  and  hu- 
manly constituted,  and  so  adapted  to  win  our  affec- 
tions by  His  intrinsic  qualities,  presents  Himself  to 
us  as  our  greatest  benefactor.  He  has  illustrated  for 
us  the  nature  of  a  true  life,  when  we  had  lost  the 
ideal.  He  has  spoken  to  us,  and  revealed  to  us  the 
Godhead  when  it  had  vanished  out  of  the  world's 
mind.  He  has  poured  new  light  and  new  love  over 
the  world.  He  has  met  for  us  the  claims  of  a  vio- 
lated law,  and  lifted  clear  off  from  us  the  crushing 
weight  of  its  penalty.  He  has  kindled  new  hopes  in 
our  despondency.  He  has  opened  a  way  to  heaven, 
and  gilded  the  darkest  night  of  human  sorrow  with 
radiance.  He  rose  from  the  grave  triumphant  for  us 
— has  gone  to  heaven — to  prepare  mansions  for  his 


18  THOUGHTS   FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

friends.  "  He  ever  liveth  to  make  intercession  for  ns." 
He  subdues  our  enemies ;  and  will  at  length,  if  we 
will  trust  Him,  bring  us  to  His  blessed  presence,  and 
present  us  faultless  before  His  Father's  throne.  Have 
we  not  here  a  Being  adapted  by  all  that  He  is,  and  all 
that  He  has  done  for  us,  to  win  our  affections,  and 
hold  them  most  tenaciously  ?  And  are  we  not  right 
in  saying  that  love  to  Christ — a  person — such  -a  per- 
son, and  that  person  our  highest  benefactor — presents 
the  strongest  working  force  that  can  enter  a  human 
soul,  to  elevate  and  purify  it  ?  Yerily,  if  He  be  not 
Divine,  then  has  our  Maker  projected  in  upon  the 
theatre  of  human  history  a  being  who  has  proved 
himself  a  most  formidable  rival  for  the  hearts  of  the 
race !  All  over  the  world,  multitudes  of  the  most 
devout  students  of  His  "Word  do  love  and  honor  Him, 
not  as  the  rival  of  the  Father,  but  as  His  fellow  and 
equal. 

Thirdly :  Strong  personal  attachment  encompass- 
es all  the  doings  of  men  that  are  right,  and,  taking 
them  into  its  keeping,  elevates  and  dignifies  them. 
Anything  that  a  man  need  do  or  should  do  at  all,  he 
may  and  should  do  out  of  love  to  Christ.  Say  of  a 
deed,  or  a  series  of  deeds,  or  a  whole  life,  that  love  to 
Christ  will  not  permit  it,  and  you  put  the  stamp  of 
reprobation  upon  it.  You  exclude  it  wholly  from  the 
circle  of  life,  if  love  to  the  Master  will  not  allow  one 
to  do  it.     All  that  is  right,  love  to  Him  will  prompt 


CONSTRAmiNG   POWER   OF   LOVE   TO   CHRIST.  19 

US  to  do  better  :  all  that  is  wrong  we  cannot  do  at  all. 
And  encompassing  thus  all  right  action,  it  gives  all 
of  it  elevation  and  true  dignity. 

There  are  departments  of  work,  of  life,  that  of 
themselves  elevate  those  who  engage  in  them.  They 
enlist  and  exhaust  all  and  more  than  all  the  faculties 
which  the  greatest  can  bring  to  them.  They  seem  to 
be  above  men,  and  beckon  men  on  and  up  to  them. 
The  best-endowed  go  up  to  them,  not  down  to  them. 
There  are  other  departments  of  work,  and  these  enlist 
the  mass  of  the  race,  where  mind  has  little  scope,  and 
receives  little  or  no  enlargement.  After  a  slight  in- 
itiation into  them,  most  of  the  faculties  are  disengaged 
— are  left  unenlisted,  or  at  least  untaxed.  !N^ow,  in 
these  departments  of  life,  engaging  the  rank  and  file 
of  men,  what  shall  elevate  them  ?  "What  shall  bring 
them  up  into  full  and  free  communion  with  the  best 
of  the  race,  put  them  into  fellowship  with  the  very 
highest,  and  thus  bind  men  in  one  living  and  holy 
brotherhood  ?  What,  but  an  all-encompassing  aflfec- 
tion,  pervading  the  highest,  reaching  the  lowest,  and 
thus  lifting  them  all  together,  one  compact  mass ! 
And  if  we  will  look  more  deeply,  we  shall  find  that 
it  is  the  heart — the  kind  of  heart  that  men  put  into 
their  work,  that  gives  them  esteem  and  respect  among 
their  fellows.  A  true  and  noble  affection  elevates  the 
humblest  toiler.  Take  away  the  heart  that  may  be 
put  into  it,  and  most  of  life  degenerates  into  drudg- 


20  THOUGHTS   FOR  THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

eiy,  and  makes  us  inquire  witli  the  Psalmist,  in  a 
sceptical  spirit  as  to  the  wisdom  of  our  Maker — 
"  Wherefore  hast  Thou  made  all  men  in  vain  ? "  Al- 
most all  life  is  reduced  to  a  level,  barren  waste  ;  nearly 
all  men  lose  the  respect  of  men — the  ideas  which  we 
wish  to  attach  to  a  man — except  as  noble  affections 
undergird  and  lift  them  aloft.  Two  men  may  do  the 
same  work ;  the  one  may  do  it  to  gratify  a  base  and 
ignoble  passion,  the  other  to  gratify  his  best  affec- 
tions ;  the  one  may  rise  early,  work  hard,  and  retire 
late,  and,  seizing  the  fruits  of  his  toil,  may  hurry  to 
drown  his  reason  and  his  manhood  in  the  intoxicating 
bowl ;  the  other,  working  by  his  side,  no  harder,  no 
longer,  at  close  of  day,  with  the  fruits  of  his  toil,  may 
hasten  to  his  home,  where  the  fire  of  love  forever 
burns  on  its  altar,  to  meet  the  happy  smiles  of  wife 
and  kindred.  The  outward  work  of  both  is  the  same 
— the  prompting  passion  makes  the  difference.  'Now 
there  lives  not  the  man,  however  humble,  on  the  foot- 
stool, who  may  not  elevate  himself  in  the  esteem  of 
the  noblest,  by  the  affection  that  shall  prompt  his 
doings.  He  may  engage  in  the  most  unintellectual 
labor — he  may  dig  in  the  ditch,  or  delve  in  the  mine, 
rarely  breathing  the  upper  air,  or  seeing  the  sun  ;  and 
yet  if  he  love  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  apostles  and  mar- 
tyrs, the  most  hoary  dwellers  in  the  New  Jerusalem, 
those  who  have  for  ages  been  under  the  tuition  and 
discipline  of  heaven,  call  him  brother,  and  that  too 


CONSTRAINING    POWER    OF    LOVE   TO    CHRIST.  21 

without  stooping  to  do  it.  He  stands  within  the  cir- 
cle of  heaven's  nobility — has  heaven's  coronet  on  his 
brow  by  having  heaven's  spirit  in  his  heart.  No  toil 
is  so  ignoble  that  Christ  will  not  take  him  that  does 
it  into  alliance  with  Himself.  Let  a  man  love  Christ, 
and  Christ  passes  His  golden  cincture  about  him, 
weaves  him  as  a  thread  into  that  beautiful  web  that 
will  gild  the  walls  of  heaven.  He  is  in  the  select 
band  of  tlie  glorions  immortals.  He  is  dignified  by 
what  he  is,  not  by  what  he  does.  Better  be  the  poor- 
est slave  with  love  to  Christ,  than  the  richest  master 
without  it — better  dig  a  ditch  out  of  love  to  Him, 
than  thunder  with  the  loftiest  eloquence,  or  conquer 
a  kingdom  for  self.  The  affection  dignifies  the  man, 
do  what  he  may. 

Fourthly :  Personal  love  to  Christ  gives  tone, 
depth,  proportion,  and  impulse  to  our  love  of  man. 
This  is  a  philanthropic  age,  nominally  so,  and,  we  be- 
lieve, really  so.  Man  as  such — man  apart  from  his 
rank,  his  wealth,  his  relations,  has  risen  and  is  still 
rising.  The  great  plane  of  humanity  is  mounting  to 
a  higher  level ;  man's  welfare  as  a  creature  of  God 
is  more  sought.  Christian  ideas  of  him,  rather  than 
mere  political  ones,  are  more  and  more  entertained. 
He  is  beginning  to  be  regarded  as  having  an  individual 
life  and  interest,  and  not  as  a  part  of  a  great  machine 
that  we  call  society.  There  is  a  philanthropy  apart 
from  the  Church,  and  even  apart  from  the  BiblCj  com- 


2525  THOUGHTS   FOE  THE  CHEISTIAIT   LIFE. 

peting  with  the  Church  and  the  believers  of  the  Bible, 
more  loud,  vociferous,  and  in  one  sense,  more  active. 
]^ow,  an  unchristian  philanthropy  never  can  be  a  deep, 
genial,  sunny,  safe  philanthropy.  It  may  roar  like 
the  thunder,  flash  like  the  lightning,  and  heave  so- 
ciety like  the  earthquake.  It  is  wild,  tumultuous, 
restless,  like  the  sea.  A  true  philanthropy  is  grafted 
into  Christ,  is  based  primarily  on  love  to  Him.  Its 
sphere  of  activity  is  the  earth,  out  among  its  dwellers : 
in  the  hovels  of  the  poor,  in  the  prison,  among  the 
degraded,  the  enslaved,  the  oppressed ;  wherever  a 
man  sighs  and  groans,  there  he  finds  its  object,  and 
room  for  its  activities;  beginning  at  home,  seeking 
out  the  most  crushed  and  oppressed  first,  and  then 
widening  its  circle  even  to  the  ends  of  the  earth. 
There  may  grow  up  in  any  community,  a  philanthropy 
truculent  and  fierce,  apart  from  Christ  and  love  for 
Him ;  but  the  philanthi-opy  that  is  to  abide — that  is 
to  reach  through  life — surmount  obstacles — be  pa- 
tient, firm,  consistent, — working  down  out  of  sight  of 
men — sounding  no  trumpet  before  it — having  no 
speech  and  no  language,  like  the  stars,  and  like  them 
gilding  some  dark  spot, — such  a  philanthropy  is  born 
of  the  Spirit,  and  is  nurtured  by  the  spirit  of  Christ. 
Give  it  other  parentage,  and  it  will  lack  tone,  consist- 
ency, power,  will  break  and  part  somewhere. 

Fifth :  Personal  attachment  to  Christ  is  the  most 
permanent  affection.     It  not  only  o'er-masters,  but 


CONSTRAINING    POWER   OF   LOVE   TO   CHRIST.  23 

where  it  exists,  it  outlives  all  other  affections.  These 
may  work  with  power,  prompt  to  effort  and  self-de- 
nial. It  is  part  of  the  glory  of  our  humanity  that  they 
do  so.  I  would  not  pluck  away  one  pillar  from  that 
glorious  fahric — a  human  soul.  Even  those  affections 
that  have  their  main  theatre  of  action  on  the  earth 
are  beautiful.  They  work  long  and  well,  accomplish 
great  things.  The  husband  and  father  leaves  his 
home,  goes  out  on  stormy  seas,  doubles  distant  capes, 
parts  from  home  long,  for  the  sake  of  home.  The  pa- 
triot leaves  his  peaceful  retreat — the  scene  where  his 
young  feelings  grew,  and  where  the  sweet  amenities  of 
life  are  enjoyed,  and  goes  to  the  tented  field,  and  jeop- 
ards life  and  limb  for  his  country.  These  sights  are 
beautiful,  and  the  affections  that  prompt  them  may  be 
lasting  ;  but  even  these  may  wither  and  die.  The  wife 
that  we  lay  in  tears  in  the  grave,  trembling  lest  the 
very  clods  shall  fall  too  heavily  upon  her  coffin,  we 
may  forget.  Time,  in  its  slow  marchings,  effaces  our 
tears,  and  almost  our  love.  The  object  of  our  affec- 
tion dies,  and  it  too  often  dies  with  it.  But  Christ 
ever  livetli.  He  is  in  us  by  His  own  quickening 
spirit.  He  stirs  our  hopes.  He  kindles  our  love,  and 
draws  up,  in  His  own  silent  but  efficacious  way,  our 
affections  unto  Himself.  With  waning  powers  and 
passing  years,  we  love  Him  more  as  we  come  nearer 
and  nearer  to  Him,  and  when  the  doors  begin  to  be 
shut  in  the  streets,  and  the  sound  of  the  grinding  is 


24:  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN   LITE. 

low,  and  we  rise  up  at  tlie  voice  of  the  bird,  and  all 
tlie  daughters  of  music  are  brought  low,  when  fears 
are  in  the  way,  and  desire  faileth,  when  the  silver  cord 
is  loosened,  and  the  bowl  is  breaking  at  the  fountain, 
when  time  fades,  and  eternity  looms  np — then  our 
affection  for  Christ  shines  out  most  brightly.  It  rises 
higher  than  all  others,  is  deeper  and  firmer,  and  sur- 
vives them  all. 

Thus  I  believe  love  to  Christ  as  the  manifested 
Deity,  God  with  us,  is  the  mightiest  working  force  in 
tlie  human  soul.  It  is  the  great  constraining  in- 
fluence. All  life  must  be  based  on  it — all  our 
doings  must  be  strung  on  it  to  give  them  true  charac- 
ter and  continuity.  Somehow  we  must  get  into  this 
love,  must  be  borne  oi?  by  it.  We  pass  into  it,  and 
we  pass  into  the  great  currents,  we  are  among  the 
vital  forces,  within  the  sweep  of  the  fundamental  laws 
of  creation.  What  we  do  effectively  and  well,  what 
we  do  that  shall  coalesce  with  the  doings  of  Heaven, 
that  shall  answer  to  and  be  like  them,  must  be  done 
from  love  to  Christ.  We  must  be  benefactors — must 
bless  and  do  good — feed  the  hungry — clothe  the  na-  - 
ked — ^knock  the  fetters  from  the  slave,  with  love  to 
Him  encompassing  ns  like  an  atmosphere,  and  bind- 
ing us  like  a  golden  chain.  We  can  only  add  to  the 
permanent  wealth  of  creation,  we  can  only  build  a 
fabric  that  shall  abide,  when  we  build  from  love  to 
Christ.     So  that  the  man  who  does  not  love  Christ,  is 


CONSTRAINING    POWER   OF   LOVE   TO    CHRIST.  25 

out  of  the  great  drift  of  things,  he  is  out  of  harmony 
with  all  right  beings  and  things,  he  is  among  discord- 
ant and  jarring  forces,  he  does  not  join  the  great 
chorus,  lie  is  in  chaos.  If  any  man  love  not  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  he  is  for  discord,  not  haraiony  in  God's 
domain,  and  as  sure  as  that  dominion  is  to  be  trium- 
phant, as  sure  as  its  principles  are  to  be  the  all-prev- 
alent ones,  he  is  and  must  be  by  the  very  constitu- 
tion of  things.  Anathema. 

I  have  spoken  of  personal  attachment  to  Christ  as 
the  constraining  impulse  of  life — of  all  life.  It  should 
impel  us  to  our  daily  tasks.  It  should  preside  over 
all  our  secular  pursuits,  and  give  them  an  up-lift  and 
elevation.  It  should  be  carried  into  the  shop,  to 
the  farm.  It  should  fire  the  tongue  of  the  lawyer 
— should  impel  the  physician  in  his  round  of  duty — 
should  preside  at  the  fireside,  and  make  home  more 
sweet  and  simny.  Above  all  it  must  have  its  seat  of 
power  in  the  heart  of  him  who,  as  Christ's  ambassador, 
would  fairly  represent  his  Master,  and  lift  perishing 
men  out  of  their  narrowness  and  sin  into  a  divine  life. 
It  must  be  the  inspiration  of  the  pulpit,  or  it  is  a  dead 
thing  for  the  great  end  for  whicb  it  is  established. 
As  the  love  of  Christ  shall  constrain  us,  we  as  minis- 
ters shall  be  men  of  ^^ower,  acknowledged  of  God, 
and  in  due  time  also  confessed  of  men. 

My  brother !    this  love  must  fill  your  heart  —it 
must   touch  your  lips  as  with  a  live  coal  from  off" 
2 


26  THOUGHTS   FOE   THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

God's  altar — it  must  breathe  in  your  sermons,  your 
exhortations,  your  pastoral  calls,  and  in  your  daily 
life.  Let  it  be  in  you  and  abound,  and  it  will  carve 
paths  for  you  to  the  highest,  the  most  permanent 
success. 

IToTE.— Preached  at  the  ordination  of  Kev.   J.  B.  Sewall, 
Lynn,  February  28th,  1855. 


n. 

THE  GOODNESS  OF  GOD. 
For  the  Lord  is  good. — Ps.  c.  5. 

THIS  declaration  is  very  brief.  It  is  easily  under- 
stood, and  will  be  controverted  in  set  terms  per- 
liaps  by  few  or  none.  It  will  secure  an  easy  entrance 
into,  and  we  fear  an  easy  and  rapid  transit  through, 
the  minds  of  most.  Persons  that  rarely,  if  ever, 
tliink  of  God,  that  never  bring  Him  into  close  contact 
with  their  souls  ;  persons  who  are  without  God  in  the 
world,  will  with  the  most  heartless  indifference  assent 
to  the  statement  that  God  is  good,  and  with  the  bald 
assent  will  dismiss  the  statement  as  thoughtlessly  as 
they  make  it. 

The  truth  is,  God  is  never  brought  sufficiently  near 
to  the  hearts  of  such  persons,  to  stir  them  into  thought 
about  Him.  He  is  a  Being  afar  off,  one  with  whom 
they  have  little  to  do  ;  so  they  dismiss  any  plausible 
affirmation  with  respect  to  Him  with  a  placid  indiffer- 
ence, and  their  assent  has  as  little  virtue  in  it,  as  their 
dissent  would  have.  But  let  one  awake  to  reflect 
upon  the  position  of  the  Governor  of  the  universe; 


28  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

"upon  His  power,  absolutely  without  limit ;  upon  the  fact 
that  our  destiny  for  eternity  is  in  his  hands  ;  that  He 
can  raise  us  by  a  word  to  bliss  inconceivable,  or  sink 
us  to  woe  unutterable ;  that  all  we  are  or  hoj)e  to  be 
is  wholly  dej)endent  on  Him  ;  let  one  think  of  all  this, 
and  he  cannot  then  permit  any  statement  as  to  what 
God  is  to  glide  with  an  easy  currency  through  the 
mind.  He  will  seize  and  hold  it,  he  will  look  at  it 
through  and  through,  go  round  about  it  to  ascertain 
on  what  basis  it  rests,  and  what  are  the  proofs  of  it, 
and  when  he  pronounces  it  true,  he  will  not  dismiss 
it,  but  will  retain  it,  lodge  it  in  his  heart,  and  make  it 
the  centre  of  a  whole  circle  of  thoughts  and  emotions, 
purposes  and  principles  of  action. 

As  we  have  said,  it  is  easy  with  a  cool  indifference 
to  admit  that  God  is  good ;  a  contrary  statement 
would  shock  us  all  perhaps,  and  yet  there  are  few 
probably  who  have  not  at  times  in  their  history  been 
tempted,  if  not  disposed,  to  doubt  it.  When  brought 
into  great  straits,  when  overwhelmed  with  disasters  or 
afflictions,  when  property,  or  health,  or  friends,  have 
been  taken  from  us,  when  all  has  been  dark  within 
and  without,  it  has  been  no  easy  thing  then  to  hold 
on  to  the  admission  which  we  made  in  our  hours  of 
ease.  For  the  heart  then  to  retain  its  confidence  in 
the  goodness  of  God,  to  say  with  the  Psalmist, 
*'  Though  He  slay  me  yet  will  I  trust  in  Him  "  is  in- 
deed a  triumph  of  faith. 


J 


THE   GOODNESS    OF   GOD.  29 

I  am  aware  that  at  sueli  times  it  is  not  enough  to 
have  the  reason  conviiieed  and  fortified,  it  is  not 
enough  that  the  higher  and  nobler  princi^^les  of  our 
nature  speak  for  God  and  his  goodness.  The  heart 
rebels  against  the  reason,  or  at  times  raises  a  mist, 
which  envelops  the  .reason  and  obscures  its  vision. 
There  are  times  when  it  takes  captive  the  judgment, 
and  thus  the  whole  soul  is  swept  down  the  rushing 
tide  to  the  gulf  of  a  cheerless  scepticism  ;  when  it  sees 
no  star  nor  sun  for  many  days,  when  it  sees  and  can 
see  no  good  and  tender  Being  upon  the  throne  ruling 
over  all,  but  stern  iron  despotism,  binding  all  things 
in  its  hard  embrace.  But  while  I  know  all  this,  yet 
it  is  well  to  have  the  reason  and  judgment  convinced 
and  fortified,  so  that  though  a  temporary  insurrection 
of  the  passions  may  silence  them  and  hurry  them 
away,  they  may  yet  be  heeded  anon,  and  bring  the 
soul  back  to  act  calmly  on  its  settled  convictions ;  and 
it  is  my  present  pm-pose  to  indicate  a  few  of  the  rea- 
sons which  should  settle  us  in  the  truth  of  the  state- 
ment of  our  text, — reasons  upon  which  we  may  anchor 
ourselves,  and  which  will  help  us  to  sustain  ourselves 
when  we  are  tempted  to  entertain  doubts  about  the 
goodness  of  God. 

It  may  seem  no  conclusive  reason,  yet  I  advance  it 
as  the  first,  and  I  believe  the  strongest  reason  for  be- 
lieving that  God  is  good,— that  He  says  so. 

I  need  not  quote  passages  from  His  word  to  show 


30  THOUGHTS    FOE   THE   CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

this.  It  is  assumed  tliroiigh  it  all,  and  in  it  all,  and 
is  specifically  declared  in  numerous  instances.  He 
says  that  He  is  good,  infinitely  so.  'Now  God  only 
knows  Himself,  no  one  else  can  know  Him,  for  "  who 
by  searching  can  find  him  out  unto  perfection  ?  "  and 
knowing  Himself  He  can  have  no  temptation  to  make 
false  statements  about  Himself.  If  He  is  evil,  He  is 
so  from  choice,  for  there  is  no  one  above  him  to  com- 
pel or  influence  Him  to  be  evil.  He  is  so  by  prefer- 
ence, and  if  He  prefers  to  be  evil,  He  must  prefer  to 
be  known  as  He  is. 

But  He  says  that  He  is  good  and  we  must  trust 
Him.  If  we  will  look  at  the  matter  more  deeply,  we 
shall  find  that  all  reasoning  starts  from  a  basis  of  trust 
in  God.  We  cannot  reason  at  all  without  data,  and 
where  are  our  data  without  confidence  in  God? 
Where  is  our  confidence  in  the  evidence  of  our  senses 
unless  we  first  trust  the  Maker  of  our  senses  ?  We 
look  at  an  object,  and  we  call  it  large,  but  unless  we 
trust  God,  how  can  we  tell  but  that  what  looks  large 
is  really  small  ?  How  can  we  tell  but  that  He  formed 
the  senses  so  as  to  deceive  us  ?  We  look  at  the  heav- 
ens in  a  clear  night,  we  say  there  are  stars  there,  but 
how  do  we  know  but  that  we  are  so  formed  as  to  see 
things  just  where  and  as  they  are  not  ?  In  the  whole 
conduct  of  our  natural  life,  in  every  step  that  we  take 
on  this  solid  earth,  whenever  we  trust  ourselves  on 
the  sea,  whenever  we  do  one  single  thing,  we  have  to 


THE   GOODNESS   OF    GOD.  31 

act  on  the  belief  tliat  God  did  not  intend  to  deceive 
ns,  that  He  is  worthy  of  credit.  We  do  not  reflect 
how  mucli  and  how  constantly  we  are  compelled  to 
trust  God. 

JSTow  if  we  trust  Him  in  other  things,  why  should 
we  not  when  He  says  He  is  good  ?  All  demonstra- 
tions of  His  goodness  drawn  from  His  works,  must 
resolve  themselves  into  simple  trust  in  Him.  If  His 
works  prove  Him  good,  how  do  we  know  but  that  His 
works  are  intended  to  deceive  us,  if  we  have  no  trust 
in  Him  ?  If  what  we  know  or  can  know  of  Him, 
seems  to  prove  Him  good,  how  can  we  know  but  that 
what  we  do  not  and  cannot  know  of  Him  mio;ht 
prove  Him  bad  ?  All  manifestations  that  God  has 
made  of  Himself,  can  prove  nothing  with  reference  to 
Himself,  unless  we  believe  Him  true.  Trust  in  God 
then  is  the  basis  of  all  reasoning,  all  speaking,  all  act- 
ing, nay  of  all  life  itself;  and  when  we  have  a  clear 
definite  declaration  from  God,  we  must  trust  it  if  we 
pretend  to  reason.  It  is  moral  insanity  not  to  trust 
God.  When  a  man  ceases  to  rely  upon  his  senses  we 
call  him  insane,  and  when  a  man  ceases  to  trust  the 
simple  word  of  God,  he  is  morally  insane.  When 
God  says  that  He  is  good,  it  is  the  glory  of  right 
reason  to  credit  it,  and  if  a  man  refuses  to  believe 
God  and  demands  demonstration,  we  tell  him  that 
without  trust  in  God  his  demonstrations  are  of  no 
value.     What  are  the  demonstrations  of  mathemat- 


32  THOUGHTS   FOR   THE    CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

ics  even,  to  a  man  who  will  not  trust  God  ?  How 
can  he  tell  that  things  are  as  they  seem,  unless  God 
made  him  true  and  to  see  things  as  they  are?  A 
man  that  believes  that  God  made  him,  cannot  even 
be  assured  tliat  two  and  two  make  four  without  trust 
in  God.  We  are  adrift.  In  the  most  emphatic  sense, 
we  walk  in  a  vain  show.  All  things  about  and  above 
us  are  a  mere  pretence  unless  w^e  trust  God,  and  when 
one  discards  the  words  of  God,  and  demands  demon- 
strations of  the  goodness  of  God,  independent  of  His 
word,  he  should  mark  well  where  his  demand  will 
lead  him. 

But  in  confirmation  of  what  He  says,  I  observe  in 
the  second  place,  that  God  has  so  made  the  soul  of 
man  that  it  demands  and  approves  of  a  good  God. 
God  made  the  soul,  He  made  it  as  He  pleased.  He 
had  all  possible  types  before  His  mind,  and  He  had 
power  to  select  which  He  would.  He  was  not  con- 
fined to  the  one  which  He  chose,  but  He  has  made 
man  after  the  constitution  which  we  now  see.  J^ow 
as  the  human  soul  is  made,  it  approves  of  what  is 
good ;  even  in  its  fallen  state,  though  it  may  not 
choose,  yet  it  does  approve  the  good.  'No  one  can 
look  upon  a  bad  act,  a  bad  man,  and  approve  either 
as  bad.  There  is  not  one  that  could  look  up  to  the 
throne  of  the  universe  and  see  an  infinitely  malignant 
Being  there,  and  say  it  was  fitting  that  He  should  be 
there.     All  immediately  and  spontaneously  would  dis- 


THE    GOODNESS    OF    GOD.  33 

approve  and  reprobate  the  occupancy  of  the  throne 
by  such  a  Being.  But  with  the  ability  to  make  us  as 
He  chose,  would  He  wish  to  create  a  whole  race  and 
order  of  intelligences  to  condemn  Himself?  And  yet 
He  has  done  this  if  He  is  not  good.  Could  it  be 
imagined  that  any  being  with  a  power  to  create  other 
beings  as  he  chose  would  create  them  to  hate  and 
loathe  him !  Would  he  put  within  them  a  conscience 
all  whose  impulses  and  convictions  would  be  against 
him  ?  Would  he  wish  wantonly  to  be  abhorred  ? 
Would  he  wish  to  build  a  theatre  and  then  crowd  it 
with  immortal  beings,  just  for  the  sake  of  having  his 
character  and  acts  condemned  ?  And  yet  this  is  so  if 
God  is  not  good.  The  very  fact  then  that  all  orders 
of  intelligences  that  we  know  of,  have  been  so  made 
by  God  as  to  approve  only  of  those  who  are  good,  is 
itself  incontrovertible  proof  that  He  is  good. 

Thirdly,  what  we  know  of  His  works  strengtli- 
ens  the  proofs  to  which  we  have  already  referred.  The 
laws  and  arrangements  of  God,  as  seen  in  His  creation 
in  their  regular,  unimpeded  operation,  are  productive 
of  good.  There  is  misery,  there  are  woe  and  suflfering 
in  God's  world,  but  then  these  are  obviously  not  the 
end  designed  by  the  arrangements  of  God.  No  law  of 
His  is  intended  to  secure  suffering.  The  law  of  gravi- 
tation is  productive  of  suffering,  but  only  through 
its  violation.  The  human  frame  has  its  laws  ;  where 
they  are  in  full  play  and  harmony,  symmetry,  health, 
2* 


3tt  THOUGHTS    FOR    THE    CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

pleasure  are  the  result.  Violate  tliem  and  then  only 
do  you  suffer.  So  with  all  the  laws  both  physical 
and  moral  which  God  has  established.  They  are 
designed  to  secure  happiness.  They  secure  that  de- 
sign w^hen  kept.  Now  if  all  the  laws  and  aiTange- 
ments  of  God  are  intended  to  secure  happiness,  does 
not  this  manifest  design  indicate  goodness  on  the  part 
of  God? 

But  you  say  that  notwithstanding  the  design,  there 
is  actual  misery  in  the  world.  But  misery  how,  I 
ask, — in  keeping  or  violating  the  designs  and  laws  of 
God  ?  Evidently  in  violating  them.  But  do  you  say 
again  that  a  good  and  almighty  Being  was  obligated 
to  keep  His  creatures  from  violating  His  law  and 
thwarting  His  designs,  and  so  making  themselves 
miserable  ?  But  can  you  prove  this  ?  Can  you  show 
that  an  infinitely  good  and  great  Being  must  keep 
misery  out  of  His  creation  ?  Misery  is  no  evidence 
surely  of  His  goodness,  but  the  creation  of  free  intelli- 
gences with  a  capacity  to  break  down  and  thwart 
wise  designs  may  be  an  evidence  of  goodness.  A 
world  of  free  beings,  though  miserable,  is  better  than  a 
world  of  slaves,  though  as  happy  as  slaves  could  be. 
The  heart  of  a  being  is  known  by  his  designs.  ISTow 
if  the  designs  of  God  are  for  the  production  of  happi- 
ness, and  free  moral  agents,  endowed  with  powers  to 
run  counter  to  the  laws  of  God,  make  themselves  mis- 
erable by  abusing  their  powers,  then  this  misery  so 


THE    GOODNESS    OF    GOD.  35 

introduced  may  afford  no  proof  of  lack  of  goodness  in 
God  at  all.  Yiewed  simply  in  this  light,  it  may  be  a 
proof  of  His  goodness,  if  it  is  a  proof  of  goodness  in 
any  rnler  to  uphold  at  any  expense  his  wise  laws. 

But  I  suggest  as  a  fourth,  and  almost  supernume- 
rary proof  that  God  is  good — the  great  remedial 
agencies  which  He  has  brought  into  being.  I  call  it 
a  supernumerary  proof.  I  do  not  think  it  needful  to 
establish  His  goodness.  If  God  had  evidently  estab- 
lished arrangements  for  securing  the  happiness  of  His 
creatures,  and  had  left  them  with  powers  and  motives 
to  conform  to  those  arrangements,  then  we  think  the 
evidently  kind  designs  of  God  would  have  vindi- 
cated the  goodness  of  His  heart.  But  when  His  good 
laws  were  broken,  and  so  misery  was  introduced,  then 
we  see  a  vast  system  of  remedial  agents,  wholly  use- 
less while  the  arrangements  of  God  were  complied 
with,  suddenly  developing  themselves.  There  lie  in 
ambush  in  the  human  frame  vast  recuperative  ener- 
gies, and  when  once  it  is  marred  or  wounded,  these 
spring  to  their  posts,  and  seek  to  repair  the  injury, 
working  by  day  and  by  night.  When  disease  invades 
and  prostrates  it,  all  creation  offers  its  pharmacopoeia 
to  heal.  From  mountain  summits,  from  ocean  depths, 
from  the  desert's  gloom,  from  the  very  bowels  of  the 
earth,  nature  brings  her  healing  remedies.  And 
when  moral  law  is  broken — when  a  whole  race  in 
thick  phalanx  rush  madly  in  the  road  of  rebellion, 


36  THOUGHTS   FOE   THE    CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

and  so  to  speedy  ruin,  then  conies  in  tlie  great  reme- 
dial moral  remedy  which  the  Gospel  reveals.  Now 
we  say  that  all  these  remedial  agencies,  and  they  are 
innumerable,  are  an  extra  proof  of  the  goodness  of 
God.  We  could  not  have  anticipated  them  before 
they  came.  They  are  so  much  superadded  to  the 
benevolent  marks  which  were  inscribed  upon  the 
original  frame- woriv  of  creation. 

I  can  only  add,  as  a  proof  that  God  is  good,  the 
simple  truth,  that  just  in  proportion  as  His  creatures 
know  more  of  Him,  they  are  more  and  more  con- 
vinced that  He  is  so.  Those  who  have  the  largest 
minds,  and  apply  all  their  powers  most  earnestly  to 
the  study  of  God,  deem  Him  good.  Angels  know 
Him  best,  and  they  think  Him  good.  Good  men 
know  Him,  and  they  think  Him  good.  And  as  they 
come  to  know  Him  more,  to  commune  and  sympa- 
thize with  Him  more,  they  come  into  a  higher  appre- 
ciation of  His  goodness. 

Now,  a  person  is  to  be  judged  by  those  who  know 
most  of  him.  "We  regard  not  the  prejudices,  the 
blind  guesses  and  conjectures  of  ignorance,  but  the 
affirmations  of  knowledge.  To  be  sure,  the  wisest 
know  but  little  of  God.  A  child  could  better  under- 
stand a  Napoleon,  or  a  Newton,  than  a  Gabriel  could 
understand  Him.  He  is  compelled  to  gaze  and  cry, 
'^  Oh,  the  depths  !     His  ways  are  past  finding  out." 

But  then,  what  we  do  know  of  God  is  like  what 


THE    GOODNESS    OF    GOD.  37 

we  do  not  know, — a  little  knowledge  can  speak  better 
of  Him  than  entire  ignorance,  jnst  as  one  who  had 
seen  a  single  particle  of  sand  from  our  world,  could 
judge  of  it  better  than  one  who  had  seen  none.  And 
little  as  the  best  know  of  God,  yet  that  thej,  as  thej 
know  Him  more,  esteem  Him  more  highly,  is  proof 
to  me  that  He  will  bear  to  be  known. 

I  have  simply  indicated  a  train  of  thought,  which, 
I  trust,  you  will  follow  out.  If,  in  your  darker  hours, 
when  the  night  wraps  your  souls,  and  you  see  no  sun 
nor  stars,  these  suggestions  will  afford  you  relief,  my 
object  will  be  consummated.  God  is  good.  Anchor 
yourself  there.  Receive  this  as  a  great  truth.  Never 
give  it  up.  When  Satan  would  assail  you,  and  seek 
to  rend  it  from  you,  hold  it  with  an  iron  grasp.  Hold 
it  when  the  billows  go  over  your  soul,  and  you  are 
sunk  in  deep  waters.  Grasp  it  while  you  live  ;  hold 
it  firmly  while  you  die. 

Note. — Preaclied  in  Lewiston    Falls,  July,   1851;   and  in 
Springfield,  June,  1859. 


III. 

CHRISTIANS— THE    HERITAGE    OF    GOD. 

The  Lord'' s  portion  is  Ms  people. — Deut.  xxxii.  9. 

THIS  is  said  primarily  of  tlie  Jews.  God  se- 
lected them  out  of  all  nations,  and  subjected 
them  to  peculiar  discipline,  and  designed  them  for 
special  ends.  But  the  declaration  is  equally  true — 
perhaps  more  true — of  His  people  now — allied  to  Him 
by  spiritual  affinities — all  of  them  sharing  His  na- 
ture, and  seeking  His  glory.  He  has  the  world  be- 
fore Him  out  of  which  to  choose,  and  He  selects 
them.  He  says,  "  I  will  set  apart  these  for  myself,  on 
these  will  I  put  my  seal ;  these  shall  be  mine.  The 
Lord's  portion  is  His  people." 

He  has  made  the  world,  and  put  into  it  all  that 
we  find.  He  has  crowded  it  with  living  beings,  and 
furnished  it  with  intelligent,  moral  creatures.  He 
has  a  special  interest  in  this  world.  He  does  not 
mean  to  give  it  up  to  His  enemies,  or  to  take  its 
chance.  He  superintends  it.  He  is  at  work  in  it, 
and  means  to  have,  speaking  after  the  manner  of  man, 
his  pay  out  of  it,  for  all  the  thought,  and  work,  and 


CHRISTIANS THE    HERITAGE   OF   GOD.  39 

suffering  He  Las  bestowed  on  it.  He  means  out  of 
this  immense  tumult  and  struggle  of  time,  out  of  the 
changes  and  revolutions  of  earth,  to  extract  some  re- 
sult that  shall  be  worthy  of  it  all, — some  portion 
that  will  satisfy  Him,  and  permit  Him  to  feel,  when 
the  drama  of  Time  is  closed  up,  that  this  globe  has 
not  swung  in  its  orbit  in  vain.  He  means  to  secure 
some  precious  treasures  that  will  meet  the  wishes  and 
expectations  of  all  orders  of  holy  beings,  and  enable 
them  to  feel  that  the  creation  of  this  world  was  not  a 
mistake,  and  its  equipment  and  supervision  a  total 
loss. 

JSTow  what  is  it  that  God  intends  to  get  out  of  this 
world — putting  all  time,  and  all  beings  and  things 
into  a  vast  crucible?  What  is  the  final  result,  the 
residuum  that  He  expects  and  will  have,  that  will 
make  Him  look  upon  this  troubled  world,  and  all  its 
painful  history,  w^ith  delight  ?  The  answer  is  in  our 
text.  It  is  "  His  people."  They  are  His  portion. 
They  are  what  He  expects  to  win  from  the  world,  and 
bring  off  safe  from  the  world's  hazards — safe  from  its 
final  wreck. 

As  we  look  at  God  so  great,  so  holy,  so  glorious, 
and  then  look  down  at  His  people  as  they  have  been 
in  all  past  ages,  as  they  are  now  after  so  much  influ- 
ence brought  to  bear  upon  them,  so  much  discipline 
and  education  bestowed  upon  them,  we  think,  and 
sometimes  say,  that  it  seems  a  poor  portion  for  one  so 


4:0  THOUGHTS   FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

great  and  good  to  select  and  to  obtain  out  of  earth. 
Can  it  be  that  these  people  called  Christians,  can  be 
all  that  God  is  to  have  ont  of  this  weary  battle  of  life 
and  earth  ?  Can  these  men  and  women  so  imperfect 
— so  grovelling  at  times — so  prone  and  so  clinging  to 
earth, — can  these  be  a  portion  that  a  God  would 
choose,  and  with  which  He  will  be  satisfied  ?  If  this 
is  all,  it  appears  to  ns  in  certain  moods  of  mind,  that 
all  things  have  been  made  in  vain.  Are  these  the  best 
products  of  earth  ?     If  so,  the  best  are  poor. 

Besides,  in  all  past  ages,  they  have  been  few  in 
number,  never  probably  a  tithe  of  earth's  popnlation. 
The  vast  mass  have  lived  without  God  in  the  world — 
rarely  recognizing  His  existence — almost  never  his 
authority.  Can  these  people,  so  few,  and  withal  so 
imperfect,  be  the  portion  of  the  Almighty  %  So  it  must 
be,  so'  our  Text  affirms.  These  are  the  ones  for  whom 
the  world  is  made — these  the  ones  for  whom  it  is  kept 
spinning  in  its  orbit.  It  is  the  souls  that  love  Him, 
or  will  love  Him  in  the  earth,  for  whom  He  has  built 
and  guides  the  earth.  It  is  not  the  dead  treasures, — 
it  is  not  the  mighty  seas  or  mountains,^— it  is  not  the 
teeming  race  of  animals, — it  is  not  the  souls  that  will 
not  love  Him,  not  those  that  are  His  portion,  but  His 
people. 

We  have  intimated  that  these  Christians  as  they 
have  been  or  are,  constitute  a  poor  portion  for  such  a 
Being  to  accept.     If  it  be  so,  it  might  yet  be  said  that 


CHRISTIANS THE    HERITAGE    OF    GOD.  41 

thej  are  the  best  there  is.  It  cannot  be  dead  matter, 
or  the  forms  of  beauty  and  grandeur  into  which  this 
matter  is  wrought,  neither  can  it  be  the  living  souls 
that  know  and  feel  and  love  themselves  and  others, 
but  will  not  love  Ilim, — it  cannot  be  these  that  He 
will  select.  So  that  if  there  be  anything  that  will 
please  our  Maker,  anything  that  He  will  preserve 
from  the  tides  of  ruin  that  are  sweeping  over  all  things, 
and  engulfing  them,  it  must  be  His  people  who  love 
Him  at  least  a  little  ;  who  present  at  least  some  few 
of  the  lineaments  of  their  Father's  face.  If  they  are 
poor,  they  are  yet  the  best ;  if  anything  is  worth  pre- 
serving, these  are.  If  the  earth  is  not  made  for  tears 
and  sickness  and  death  to  hold  carnival  in,  to  have 
free  and  final  sway  in,  if  anything  is  to  be  brought 
through  the  great  storms  and  the  surging  waves  safe 
to  some  happy,  peaceful  shore,  to  live  and  honor  the 
Maker  of  all  things,  it  must  be  His  own  people  that 
love  Him. 

It  is  said  that  they  are  few.  They  are  so  in  any 
one  age  in  the  past ;  even  in  the  best  age  and  best 
country  they  do  not  perhaps  constitute  a  majority. 
And  yet  the  Scriptures  do  not  intimate  that  in  the 
ultimate  winding  up  of  things,  the  aggregate  of  God's 
people  will  be  small.  The  Bible  seeks  to  excite  no 
tears,  no  lamentations,  because  so  few  will  join  in  the 
chorus  of  redemption.  It  gives  no  intimation  that  the 
Father's  house  will  lack  occupants,  or  that  any  of  its 


42  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

apartments  will  stand  vacant.  The  wliole  tone  of  the 
Bible,  when  it  speaks  of  the  final  issue  of  time — the 
final  results  of  all  this  world's  history,  is  one  of  jubilee 
and  triumph,  never  of  sorrow  and  despondency. 
There  is  no  intimation  that  God  will  make  a  sad  fail- 
ure out  of  this  enterprise  of  earth,  or  that  He  will  lack 
hearts  and  voices  redeemed  from  earth  to  praise  Him. 
There  will  be  no  thinness  in  the  ranks — no  poverty 
of  hearts  or  voices  when  all  His  people,  the  portion  of 
the  Lord,  shall  be  gathered  in.  The  Bible  never  puts 
a  minor  strain  into  the  songs  that  the  people  of  God 
will  sing  when  they  shall  finally  assemble  on  Mount 
Zion  in  the  city  of  our  God,  and  if  the  Bible  seems 
content  with  the  numbers  of  God's  people.  His  portion 
gathered  out  of  earth,  we  surely  may  be. 

I  have  alluded  to  imperfections  in  God's  people, 
their  frequently  low  and  narrow  views  and  aims,  their 
contracted  affections,  and  have  spoken  of  these  as  a 
ground  of  dissatisfaction  in  choosing  them  as  His  por- 
tion. Can  it  be  that  the  great  God  will  select  persons 
so  full  of  faults  and  be  content  with  them  as  His  por- 
tion? 

In  reply,  it  may  be  said  that  He  is  not  satisfied 
with  them  as  they  now  are.  He  looks  to  what  they 
may  be,  to  their  inherent  capacities,  and  to  what  He 
can  make  out  of  them.  We  even  do  not  regard  a  J 
thing  for  what  it  is,  but  for  what  it  may  become,  for 
what  we  can  make  out  of  it.     The  sculptor,  with  his 


CHRISTIANS THE    HERITAGE   OF   GOD.  43 

mind's  eye,  beholds  the  finished  statue  in  the  rough 
block  of  marble,  and  he  rejoices  in  it  before  he  has 
struck  a  blow.  The  painter  looks  upon  the  canvass, 
and  it  shines  with  the  consummated  picture,  ere  he 
has  applied  his  brush.  We  look  upon  the  infant  help- 
less in  its  mother's  arms,  and  if  we  had  a  prophet's 
eye,  we  might  already  rejoice  in  him  as  one  who  was 
destined  to  revolutionize  an  age  or  an  empire,  and 
bring  in  a  new  reign  of  righteousness  and  ultimate 
peace.  "We  look  upon  a  rocky  soil,  we  see  its  capaci- 
ties, and  it  already  waves  in  fancy  with  luxuriant 
crops.  But  a  little  more  than  two  centuries  since,  this 
vast  continent  was  a  wilderness.  Its  acres  lay  all  un- 
tilled,  its  streams  ran  idly  to  the  sea,  its  harbors  were 
not  pressed  by  a  keel :  all  was  still  save  as  the  yell  of 
the  savage  echoed  through  the  forest,  or  resounded 
along  the  shores.  It  was  a  continent  yielding  nothing, 
and  yet  of  immense  capacities.  The  powers  of  ener- 
getic men  have  grappled  with  it,  and  we  see  what 
they  have  done  with  it.  An  inferioi'  race  might  have 
come  in  and  overrun  it,  and  it  would  to  them  have 
been  all  undeveloped.  We  always  look  at  a  thing 
rightly,  when  we  look  at  it  and  estimate  it,  not  in  view 
of  what  it  is,  but  in  view  of  what  it  has  the  capacity 
under  proper  helps  and  appliances  to  become. 

The  whole  world  is  doubtless  yet  in  germ.  Tliere 
lie  in  shaded  forests — up  rocky  slopes — in  untrodden 
valleys,  gardens  that  will  shine  with  unimagined  beau- 


44  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

ties,  and  that  will  load  the  air  with  the  finest  odors. 
All  things  have  capacities  of  which  we  know  but  little. 
But  we  are  assured  by  inspiration  of  a  fact  which  we 
might  suppose  to  be  true  without  it.  It  is,  that  it 
doth  not  yet  appear  what  these  imperfect  people  who 
constitute  the  portion  of  God  shall  be.  We  cannot 
judge  of  their  future  by  their  present — of  what  they 
may  be  by  what  they  are.  The  most  unpromising 
buds  bloom  into  the  fairest  flowers.  The  most  imper- 
fect Christians  may  develop  into  souls  that  will  shine 
with  eternal  glory.  The  people  of  God  are  the  most 
improvable  of  all  creatures.  They  have  that  in  them 
which  is  the  germ  of  all  lasting  development  and  prog- 
ress,— the  love  of  God.  The  more  we  look  at  it  the 
more  we  shall  see  that  the  soul  grows  by  its  heart,  not 
by  its  head  ;  by  its  affections,  not  by  its  abstract 
thought ;  by  what  links  it  in  sw^eet  joy  with  God  and 
His  creatures,  not  by  what  projects  it  up  into  alonely, 
selfish  and  temporary  conspicuity.  The  soul  that 
rises  by  the  head,  is  like  a  body  thrown  up  by  vol- 
canic force  that  soon  spends  itself.  The  soul  that 
rises  by  its  affections,  is  like  a  planet  kept  in  its  eter- 
nal course  by  the  law  of  gravitation.  "We  must  have 
love  to  God,  we  must  be  God's  people  to  have  the  laAv 
of  a  true  and  lasting  growth,  of  a  beautiful  and  har- 
monious development  within  us. 

Moreover  it  is  not  what  the  people  of  God  now  so 
imperfect,  now  so  apparently  unworthy  of  being  select- 


CHRISTIANS THE   HERITAGE   OF    GOD.  45 

ed  by  God  as  His  portion,  may  become  by  any  law  of 
growth,  any  inherent  capacities  that  may  be  in  them, 
but  what  they  may  become  nuder  the  regimen,  the  disci- 
pline, the  education  of  God.  "  My  Father,"  says  Christ, 
"  is  the  husbandman^  l^ow  we  know  very  well  that 
one  husbandman  will  make  a  barren  soil  yield  more 
than  another  can  gain  from  the  most  fruitful.  Yast 
capacities  may  lie  wholly  unknown  or  unimproved. 
Yery  much  depends  on  the  mind  that  sees,  and  on  the 
hand  that  executes.  One  man — one  people,  will  take  a 
garden  and  make  a  very  desert  of  it,  and  another  will 
take  a  desert  and  make  a  garden  out  of  it.  l^ow  all 
God's  people  are  under  His  culture.  He  has  taken 
them  in  hand,  very  rough,  very  unpromising  mate- 
rials,— to  see  what  He  can  make  out  of  them.  It  was 
a  very  rugged,  unpromising  world  that  was  given  into 
the  hands  of  man  to  cultivate,  but  ere  the  last  trump 
shall  sound,  and  the  world  is  given  over  to  its  final 
fire,  it  will  be  a  very  finished  world  that  will  shine 
in  the  sunlight.  These  Christians  may  be  all  in 
the  rough,  but  they  are  all  uncut  diamonds.  The 
Eternal  God  has  taken  them  in  hand,  He  is  at  work 
upon  them.  He  is  showing  what  His  almighty  grace 
can  and  will  do  for  them.  We  are  God's  workman- 
ship, and  each  disciple  will  exhibit  the  skill  of  the 
Workman.  So  that  we  need  have  no  apprehension 
that  under  such  a  hand  as  the  Almighty's,  such  culture 
as  His,  even   these  now   very  imperfect   Christians 


46  THOUGHTS   FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

will  be  an  unworthy  portion  for  our  Heavenly  Father 
to  select  out  of  earth.  His  skill  is  adequate  to  make 
them  a  portion  that  shall  satisfy  Him,  for  having  made 
the  earth  and  sent  it  on  its  errand.  It  will  be  found 
that  it  required  just  such  a  world,  with  just  such  a 
history,  with  just  such  opposing  influences,  to  bring 
out  and  perfect  just  such  a  people  and  just  such  a 
portion. 

"  The  Lord's  portion  is  His  people."  If  this  be 
so,  then,  we  who  hope  we  belong  to,  and  are  a  part  of 
that  portion,  have  the  most  weighty  obligations  rest- 
ing upon  us.  K  we  are  His  portion — a  part  of  it, 
then  there  is  a  duty,  a  high  duty  of  personal  conse- 
cration, of  personal  culture,  that  even  here  and  now, 
our  souls  may  honor  our  Father.  K  we  are  God's 
portion,  we  should  see  to  it  that  the  Divine  Husband- 
man receives  no  reproach  when  an  observer  casts  his 
eye  upon  us.  It  will  bring  honor  to  God  if  our  gar- 
dens are  well  cared  for — if  our  souls  are  all  trimmed 
and  well  kept,  if  our  hearts  are  the  soil  on  which  grow 
all  the  plants,  the  flowers  and  fruits  of  righteousness. 
No  pressure  of  duty  can  be  so  great  as  this — ^that  God 
has  selected  us  as  a  part  of  His  portion  in  this  world. 

But  there  is  not  only  a  duty  within,  in  the  culture 
and  equipment  of  our  own  souls  for  all  beauty  and 
all  righteousness,  but  also,  if  the  Lord's  portion  is  His 
people,  there  is  a  duty  of  enlarging  that  portion  by 
increasing  the  number  of  His  peoj)le.     The  world  is 


CHRISTIANS THE   HERITAGE    OF    GOD.  47 

full  of  trees — full  of  plants  that  ought  to  be  growing 
in  the  garden  of  the  Lord.  We  should  go  out,  and 
bring  them  in.  The  world  is  full  of  people  that  ought 
to  come  and  magnify  the  inheritance  of  the  Al- 
mighty in  the  earth.  We  should  earnestly  strive  to 
persuade  them  to  come  in,  and  thus  increase  the  num- 
ber that  will  swell  the  triumphs  of  grace.  What  an 
honor  to  be  a  part  of  the  portion  of  the  Almighty — 
to  have  the  privilege  of  adding  to  that  portion  !  We 
add  to  it,  and  we  do  a  double  work ;  we  magnify  the 
revenues  of  glory  that  will  come  from  His  portion  to 
God,  and  we  start  a  bliss  that  will  brighten  forever 
in  the  hearts  of  those  that  are  brought  in  through  us, 
to  increase  the  heritage  of  God. 

Are  we  of  the  number  who  belong  to  the  people, 
and  so  to  the  portion  of  Jehovah  ?  those  for  whom  the 
world  was  made,  and  is  kept  ?  Do  we  belong  to  those 
whom  God  will  bring  safely  off  from  all  the  disasters 
of  time,  to  live  forever  in  His  own  peaceful  home 
with  Him,  or  do  we  belong  to  those  who  in  "  the 
wreck  of  matter,  and  the  crush  of  worlds,"  will  go 
down  amid  the  general  ruin,  having  no  place  with 
His  people,  who  alone  are  His  portion  ? 

Note.— Preached  at  Lewiston  Falls,  April  25,  1858,  and  at 
Springfield,  June  20,  1858. 


IV. 

GOD'S    OWNERSHIP    IN    MAN. 

And  ye  are  not  your  own.    For  ye  are  hought  with  a  price. — 
1  CoE.  vi.  19,  20. 

MOST  men  act  as  tliough  they  were  tlieir  own. 
They  conduct  their  affairs,  their  whole  style 
of  life,  as  though,  they  were.  God  affirms  that  they 
are  not ;  and  at  this  point,  issue  is  joined,  and  men 
come  into  collision  with  God.  It  is  not  so  much  that 
men  wish  to  live  out  of  the  range  of  the  fundamental 
laws  that  God  has  inwrought  into  the  system  of 
things — it  is  not  that  they  desire  to  live  outside  of  the 
Divine  protection  and  help,  when  these  are  convenient 
refuges  in  their  helplessness  ;  but  here  is  the  stress  of 
their  alienation — ^that  they  do  wish  to  live  as  their 
own ;  and  God,  as  much  out  of  considerations  of 
mercy  as  of  absolute  right,  will  not  allow  them  so  to 
act.  Men  say,  practically — we  are  our  own.  God 
says — 'No  !  ye  are  mine. 

The  absolute  proprietorship  in  man,  in  every 
man,  God  claims.  There  is,  and  can  be,  no  exception 
to  this  law. 


49 


He  claims  our  bodies.  Tliese  are  in  the  loosest 
relation  to  our  veritable  selvee.  These  may  be 
dropped,  and  yet  we  may  remain  in  full  and  vigor- 
ous activity ;  and  yet  these  are  His.  These  hands  and 
feet — these  eyes  and  ears,  avenues  of  the  soul,  through 
which  it  receives  and  gives  out  so  much — these 
tongues,  the  glory  of  our  frames — this  whole  physical 
structure,  is  His; — His,  for  He  made  it,  and  adjusted 
it  so  nicely,  equipping  it  so  admirably  for  service, 
fashioning  it  so  delicately  and  yet  so  strongly, 
making  it  so  noble,  so  alert,  such  a  masterpiece  of 
mechanism,  as  to  excite  the  wonder  of  the  thought- 
ful the  more  they  think — this  ,body  is  His. 

These  thoughts,  that  wander  through  Eternity, 
that  dive  into  its  depths,  and  soar  to  its  heights,  that 
dart  quicker  than  an  arrow's  flight,  yea,  quicker  than 
the  electric  currents — that  are  here,  that  are  there, 
that  are  everywhere — that  no  power  can  imprison  or 
chain — that  are  flying  over  ocean  and  land,  while 
the  body  is  bound  in  fetters — that  are  knocking  at 
the  portals  of  the  morning,  jand  crying  for  light, 
while  tyrants  are  striving  to  wrap  the  soul  in  dark- 
ness— that  astonish  us  at  their  swiftness,  and  often 
terrify  us  by  their  uncontroUableness  ;  these  thoughts 
•are  His — this  thought-power,  part  of  it  known,  infl- 
nitely  more  of  it  unknown,  even  to  ourselves — this  is 
all  His. 

The  affections — the  power  to  feel,  to  love,  to  hate, 
.3 


50  THOUGHTS   FOR   THE    CHEISTIAN    LIFE. 

to  admire,  to  loatlie,  are  His — linked  inseverably  with 
thought — thought  and  feeling — blended  threads  twist- 
ed by  the  hand  of  the  Maker — these  are  God's.  He 
claims  these  preeminently ;  these  first  and  most,  as 
being  most  central  to  us,  and  most  precious  to  us  and 
to  Him.  He  strikes  for  these  first ;  He  knocks  at  their 
portal  longest  and  loudest,  and  deems  that  He  has  noth- 
ing without  these.  He  puts  His  imprint  upon  these 
most  emphatically,  and  says  of  them — these  are  Mine. 

These  wills,  in  a  sense  the  masters  of  our  souls, 
lording  it  over  them  with  imperial  sway,  seizing  the 
helm,  and  tossing  the  vessel  whither  they  will — these 
are  His,  not  our  own  at  all.  They  are  constituted  the 
legitimate  vicegerents  of  God,  the  only  real,  effective 
ones  in  the  earth,  destined  to  reign,  in  freedom  in- 
deed, but  yet  under  law^ — free,  because  under  law ; 
these  wills,  that  so  often  rebel  against  him,  that  as- 
sume false  leadership,  that  break  over  all  Divine  bar- 
riers, and  roam  away  in  very  wantonness — are  His — 
held  of  Him  and  under  him — masters,  because  He 
has  put  them  in  sovereignty. 

The  whole  man,  from  centre  to  circumference,  from 
height  to  depth,  the  man  known  and  the  man  un- 
known, the  man  developed  and  the  man  undevel- 
oped ;  all  that  lies  within  these  souls  in  germ,  waiting 
other  scenes,  and  other  eyes,  and  other  influences,  to 
bring  it  out — all,  all  is  God's.  He  stamps  it  His. 
He  claims,  and  will  claim  it  His.     However  deep  and 


61 


radical  its  alienations;  however  distant  its  wander- 
ings, it  is  His.  Whatever  powers  ever  get  possession 
of  man  with  or  without  his  consent,  thej  are  despots, 
usurpers.  No  time,  no  eternity,  can  give  them  right- 
ful possession  of  one  faculty,  one  power  of  body  or  of 
souh  All  thoughts,  all  imagination,  all  feeling,  that 
is  now  away  from  God,  is  filched,  stolen,  held  by  fraud 
and  violence.  He  may  give  them  up,  but  it  will  be 
with  a  sigh ;  as  Christ  gave  up  Jerusalem — gazing  upon 
it  with  painful,  tearful  utterance,  "  How  often  would 
I — but  ye  would  not !  "  From  first  to  last,  all  through 
time,  all  through  eternity,  this  claim  of  God  to  us 
will  be  valid,  capable  by  possibility  of  no  alienation. 
The  grounds  of  this  claim  are  threefold.  First, 
Creation.  He  hath  made  us,  and  not  we  ourselves. 
Tliis  is  the  original  ground  of  all  rightful  claim.  Say 
of  a  thing,  "  I  have  made  it,"  and  surely  I  may  add, 
^'  it  is  mine."  Xo  claim  can  be  prior  to  this,  none 
can  strike  deeper.  In  the  highest  sense — in  a  sense 
that  we  cannot  assert  with  respect  to  anything  we 
make,  we  may  say  of  God,  He  hath  made  vs.  It 
takes  a  God  to  make  even  the  poorest  of  us.  He 
put  no  journeyman  to  make  any  of  us.  The  man 
most  meagre  in  thought,  in  imagination,  in  feel- 
ing, required  the  wisdom  and  power  of  God  to  con- 
struct him.  The  lowest  man  is  a  microcosm — an  un- 
developed angel.  Get  him  once  well  awake,  pro- 
foundly stirred,  on  the  ascending  grade,  fairly  front- 


52  THOUGHTS   FOR   THE    CHEISTIAN   LIFE. 

ing  God  and  His  creation ;  put  the  Divine  life  and 
inspiration  into  liim,  and  lie  is  capable  of  drinking 
deep  drauglits  of  God.  We  do  not  know  what  a  man 
is  yet.  The  glorj  of  a  human  soul  has  not  yet 
dawned  upon  ns.  That  delver  in  the  ditch,  when  he 
gets  fledged,  and  his  wings  grown,  may  fly  into  the 
empyrean — yea,  from  star  to  star.  It  doth  not  yet 
appear  what  he  may  be,  and  God  who  made  him,  doth 
not  mean  that  it  shall  yet  appear  what  he  may  be. 
This  creature  so  wonderful,  God  made  not  for  another, 
but  for  Himself.  Divine  ownership  is  involved  in 
his  very  creation. 

The  second  ground  of  ownership  is  Sustentation. 
God  sustains  us,  not  in  a  loose,  general  way ;  not  as  we 
sustain  heinous  who  are  related  to  us — not  as  a  mother 
even  sustains  her  infant,  feeding  it  from  the  cup  of 
her  own  life.  We  only  fetch  a  feeble  compass  about 
the  idea  of  Divine  sustentation,  by  any  analogies  we 
draw  from  human  relationships,  and  the  supports  we 
may  give  to  those  most  dependent  upon  us.  God 
penetrates  us  by  His  sustaining  power,  moment  by 
moment.  He  undergirds  us  continually.  His  life  cir- 
cles throuo-h  all  our  faculties.  We  live  and  move  in 
Him.  His  hand  withdrawn,  we  perish.  In  Him,  we 
and  all  things  stand,  as  the  branches,  the  leaves,  the 
flowers,  the  fruit,  stand  in  the  trunk.  Some  have 
called  the  support  that  God  gives  to  His  creatures,  a 
continuous  creation.     It  is  not  so,  and  yet  probably 


god's    OWNEESHir    IN   MAN.  53 

as  much  power  is  requisite  to  sustain,  as  to  create. 
The  being  that  lives  continually  in  God — that  perishes 
without  Him,  may  well  be  called  God's. 

A  third  ground  of  ownership  is  Redemption.  We 
are  His,  for  as  our  text  says,  ''  We  are  bought  with  a 
price."  It  is  presented  here  as  the  chief  ground  of 
ownership,  as  though  creation  were  little,  as  though 
sustentation  were  little,  and  redemption  were  all.  Ye 
are  bought  with  a  price,  therefore  ye  are  not  yet  your 
own.  As  if  the  original  claim  of  God  had  been  for- 
feited, and  He  had  bought  it  back  again  ;  as  though 
sin  had  alienated  the  original  possession,  and  He  had 
recovered  it  at  a  vast  price.  This  price  you  know — 
it  was  the  Life  of  His  Son.  I  need  not  dwell  upon 
it.  A  word  made  us ;  .a  Calvary  bought  us.  Creation 
w^as  painless  ;  redemption  was  a  torture.  The  price 
paid  measures  God's  estimate  of  us.  If  we  had  been 
worth  nothing  to  God,  He  would  have  paid  nothing. 
We  do  not  pay  jewels  for  rubbish.  We  do  not  bring 
out  all  our  gold,  in  exchange  for  trifles.  IS'eitlier  does 
God.  He  does  not  pay  a  life  so  dear  to  Him  for 
souls  that  are  insignificant.  It  is  easy  to  find  men's 
estimate  of  men  ;  human  souls  are  at  a  discoimt  here. 
God  paid  Christ  for  them — the  gold  of  His  heart — 
the  crown  jewel  of  His  realm — the  Kohinoor  of 
heaven.  Stand  at  the  Cross,  and  there  God  shows 
you  and  the  angels  His  estimate  of  souls.  Tliat  He 
might   win  them  back,   that  He   might   have  them 


54:  THOUGHTS    FOE   THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

again,  He  paid  that  price;  it  is  His  most  complete 
claim — His  most  strenuous  plea.  "  Ye  are  not  your 
own.  Ye  are  bouglit,  not  with  corruptible  things, 
such  as  silver  and  gold,  but  with  the  precious  blood 
of  Christ."  That  is  the  climax  of  claim — that  is  the 
strenuous  plea  of  ownership.  Passing  by  creation, 
ignoring  continued  sustentation,  He  presents  the  pur- 
chase, and  says,  "  Ye  are  Mine,  all  of  you,  for  I  have 
bought  you  all." 

The  claim  and  the  grounds  of  it  have  been  con- 
sidered. 

I  would  now  say  that  God  acts,  upon  the  basis  of 
this  claim,  as  though  we  were  His,  I  mean  as  far  as 
His  action  apart  from  ours  is  concerned.  He  deals 
with  us  very  much  as  we  deal  with  our  own.  He 
creates  us  as  He  pleases,  gives  us  such  endowments  as 
He  pleases,  places  us  in  positions  without  consulting 
us.  We  have  nothing  to  do  with  our  birth,  our  rela- 
tionships, our  condition  in  earlier  life.  Apart  from 
prudence  we  have  little  to  do  with  the  term  of  our 
years.  God  spins  the  thread  of  our  life  strong  or 
weak,  long  or  short,  as  it  may  please  Him.  The  im- 
pulses of  life  come  mainly  from  Him.  He  consults 
us  very  little  about  many  things  that  concern  us  most 
vitally.  He  is  the  Sovereign  arbiter  of  our  destiny  to 
a  considerable  extent.  In  a  word,  He  continually 
acts  upon  the  assumption  that  we  are  His.  He  meets 
us  with  that  claim  in  His  "Word,  He  enforces  it  in  the 


god's  ownership  in  man.  65 

realm  of  Nature  and  of  Providence.  So  far  as  we  can 
discover  His  idea  by  His  doings  He  treats  us  perpet- 
ually on  tiie  basis  of  that  claim.  He  never  intermits 
it.  Whenever  He  comes  in  contact  with  us  in  the 
domain  of  Law  He  enforces  it.  I  think  no  one  can  mis- 
apprehend the  views  of  God  in  this  matter  as  they  are 
indicated  in  all  His  providential  dealings  with  us.  If 
a  man  is  his  own,  he  has  a  right  to  be  consulted  in  a 
vast  realm  of  interests  over  w^hich  God  rules  in  absolute 
sovereignty ; — if  he  belongs  to  another  than  God, 
then  that  other  should  be  consulted.  But  God  moves 
straight  on,  never  consulting  man,  but  treating  him  as 
though  he  were  His,  absolutely  and  entirely.  He  is 
always  and  everywhere  expressing  His  claim  upon 
men  in  the  written  and  in  the  unwritten  word. 

But  though  God  thus  expresses  and  thus  emphati- 
cally enforces  and  acts  upon  this  claim,  it  is  yet 
practically  futile  till  we  come  into  God's  ideas  on 
the  matter,  and  joyfully  and  blissfully  respond  to  His 
claim.  God  may  act  on  one  basis-^-we  may  act  on 
another.  God  may  say  we  are  His  and  we  may  say 
we  are  our  own.  He  may  act  upon  His  assumption 
— we  may  act  upon  our  own.  He  is  the  greater  and 
may  ci-ush  us,  but  our  wills  within  the  limit  of  our 
own  souls  are  free  and  may  stand  out  against  the 
divine  omnipotence.  Will  is  subject  to  moral  influ- 
ences, not  to  physical  power.  Power  can  call  worlds 
into  being,  but  it  does  not  subdue  wills.     It  is  ours  to 


56  THOUGHTS   FOK   THE   ClIKISTIAJST   LIFE. 

yield  to  the  claim  of  God  and  respond  yes  !  we  are 
God's,  body,  soul  and  spirit — all  His. 

And  a  great  part  of  God's  discipline  with,  us  in 
this  world  is  just  to  secure  a  joyful  and  permanent 
acquiescence  on  our  part  in  this  claim  of  God.  I  have 
said  that  He  cannot  compass  His  claim  by  mere 
power.  Every  creature  of  God  is  affected  in  its  own 
way.  God  is  in  His  creatures — all  of  tliem.  None 
of  them  are  out  of  His  control.  But  He  affects  each 
after  its  own  Law.  Brute  creation  is  moved  in  one 
way,  moral  intelligences  in  quite  another  way.  The 
stars  are  moved  in  one  way  and  run  their  courses  by 
one  law.  Men  are  moved  in  quite  another  way  and 
by  another  law.  There  is  no  opposition  to  the  Divine 
claim  and  will  in  ]S"ature — only  in  free  responsible 
wills.  God  as  much  claims  souls  as  He  does  stars ; 
He  owns  the  one  as  much  as  the  other ;  but  He 
makes  good  practically  His  claim  to  souls  in  quite  a 
different  method  from  what  He  does  His  claim  to  the 
stars.  He  governs  matter  as  matter,  but  souls  as 
souls. 

If  He  can  make  souls  willing  in  the  day  of  His 
power,  it  is  yet  power  of  a  different  sort  from  that 
which  is  impressed  upon  dead  matter.  When  He 
says,  we  are  not  our  own  but  His,  and  then  seeks  to 
bring  us  to  an  acknowledgment  of  His  claim.  He 
will  do  it  by  processes  which  do  not  violate  the  integ- 
rity and  freedom  of  souls.     In  Avays  to  us  unknown 


god's  owneksiiip  jn  man.  67 

perhaps,  in  ways,  however,  conformable  to  the  nature 
of  the  creature  He  is  treating,  He  operates  to  hring 
us  to  the  acknowledgment  of  His  right  in  and  over 
us.  He  plants  the  claim  in  His  word — He  reiterates 
it  in  His  Providence,  and  then  by  a  more  or  less 
severe  discipline,  strives  to  make  us  acquiesce  in  His 
right  to  us.  The  process  may  be  circuitous,  the 
methods  may  be  stern,  the  discipline  long  and  terrible, 
which  shall  bring  us  gladly  to  confess  and  act  upon 
the  confession  that  we  are  not  our  own,  but  God's, 
bought  with  a  price  so  precious. 

The  conflict  between  us  and  God  ceases  whenever 
we  are  brought  to  agree  with  God  upon  this  point  of 
ownership.  So  long  as  we  say  we  are  our  own  the 
conflict  must  last ;  when  we  yield  and  say,  no,  we  are 
not  our  own  but  God's,  it  is  over,  and  over  forever. 
And  when  we  once  yield  and  come  into  a  blessed 
harmony  with  God  on  this  subject,  we  bless  the 
methods,  however  severe,  that  brought  us  there.  Bet- 
ter anything,  we  feel,  than  a  diflference  with  God  on 
such  a  point. 

And  yielding  on  the  main  point,  we  yield  on  every 
subordinate  point.  When  the  central  citadel  is  carried 
everything  is  carried.  When  we  say  we  are  not  our 
owu,  we  say  that  everything  we  possess  is  not  our 
own.  The  man  who  yields  himself  yields  everything 
with  himself — his  property,  his  learning,  his  all.  The 
greater  includes  the  less.  The  great  surrender  implies 
3* 


58  •      THOUGHTS    FOR   THE   CHKIBTIAN    LIFE. 

tlie  surrender  of  all  that  attaches  to  us.  We  give  up 
all  when  we  give  up  ourselves.  God  aims  at  us,  not 
primarily  at  ours.  When  He  gains  us  He  well  knows 
that  He  gains  ours. 

]N"either  let  any  suppose  that  we  lose  aught  that  an 
ingenuous  soul  would  desire  to  possess,  when  we  say 
Amen  to  God's  claim  of  ownership.  Man  owns  us 
and  we  are  slaves ;  we  lose  our  crown,  we  are  fallen, 
degraded,  imbruted.  We  are  only  free  when  we  come 
into  the  possession  of  God.  Till  then  w^e  are  bond- 
servants— free  ever  after.  We  lose  ourselves  in  God. 
When  we  allow  God  to  call  us  His,  then  He  allows 
us  to  call  Him  ours.  He  gains  a  creature  and  we 
gain  a  Creator.  He  gains  a  lost  sinner,  and  we  gain 
a  Eedeeming  Saviour  and  an  Eternal  Father  and 
Friend. 

Note.— (North  Church,  April,  1860.) 


V. 


ONE  WAY  OF  SALVATION. 


N'eitlier  is  there  salvation  in  any  other,  for  there  is  none  other 
name  under  heaven  given  among  men,  wherehy   we  must  le 
I. — Acts  iv.  12. 


THERE  is  salvation  for  the  lost  in  Christ.  This, 
though  not  stated,  is  plainly  implied  in  this 
passage.  Apart  from  Christ  there  is  no  salvation ; 
this  is  palpably,  positively  affirmed.  The  resources 
of  the  language  would  fail  to  supply  terms  that  would 
or  could  exhibit  more  clearly  the  exclusiveness  of  the 
one  method  of  salvation  by  Christ.  Under  the  broad 
cope  of  the  heavens  no  other  name  is  revealed  to  men 
whereby  they  can  be  saved.  They  are  shut  up  unto 
Him.  High  walls  hem  them  in,  and  there  is  but  one 
outlet.  The  Gospel  makes  known  Christ  as  the  way 
of  salvation.  It  makes  known  no  other.  Tlie  man 
who  i)roclaims  any  other,  not  only  goes  out  of  the 
record,  but  contradicts  it ;  not  only  speaks  without 
authority,  but  against  all  authority. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  follow  the  implication  of 
the  Text — that  there  is  salvation  for  us  in  Christ, — 


60  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE   CHKISTIAN   LIFE. 

but  the  spirit  and  positive  declaration  of  the  passage, 
that  there  is  no  salvation  in  any  other. 

You  will  mark  well  that  I  am  not  about  to  discuss 
the  question,  how  much  or  how  little  knowledge  of 
Christ,  how  clear  and  definite,  or  how  confused  and 
indefinite  conceptions  of  Him  one  must  or  may  have 
in  order  to  be  saved.  That  is  an  open  question — 
probably  it  is  wholly  an  insoluble  one,  at  least  by 
man. 

But  this  I  say,  that  whoever  out  of  our  lost  race  is 
saved  and  brought  home  to  Heaven,  is  saved  by 
Christ  alone.  He  may  know  much  or  little  of  Christ, 
have  this  or  that  conception  of  Him  ;  but  when  he  is 
saved,  when  he  does  come  to  Heaven,  he  will  see  and 
confess  that  it  is  Christ  only  who  has  brought  him 
there. 

Neither  am  I  about  to  attempt  to  prove  that  there 
is  salvation  in  no  other.  Our  text  says  so  definitely, 
unmistakably ;  and  it  is  not  for  man  to  go  about  to 
prove  what  God  afifirms, — ^not  for  man  to  bolster  up 
with  his  weak  logic  the  positive  testimony  of  the 
Eternal  Jehovah.  This  would  be  to  hold  a  taper-light 
to  the  sun.  When  you  get  down  to  a  fair  and  square 
statement  of  the  Bible,  you  get  down  upon  the  solid- 
est  thing  in  God's  creation.  If  you  cannot  build  on 
that,  you  cannot  on  anything.  I  have  no  business 
here, — this  pulpit,  this  house,  these  worshippers,  this 
Sabbath — these  solemn  assemblies  have  no  significance 


ONE   WAY    OF   SALVATION.  61 

if  the  Bible  is  not  of  God,  and  conveys  not  His  mind 
to  man.  If  an  accountant  has  to  go  through  the  pro- 
cess of  verifying  his  ready-reckoner  every  time  he 
wants  to  cast  interest  on  a  note,  he  might  as  well  cast 
his  ready-reckoner  into  the  streets ;  and  if  every  time 
the  Bible  makes  a  statement,  we  must  go  beyond  it 
and  undertake  to  shore  it  up  and  prove  it  true  by 
outside  considerations;  we  might  as  well  hurl  our 
Bible  into  the  streets  and  rely  upon  our  own  reason. 

The  Bible  says  that  Christ's  name  is  the  only  name 
given  under  heaven  among  men  for  their  salvation. 
That  is  plain,  I  think,  and  it  will  be  authoritative  and 
decisive  with  all  those  to  whom  the  Bible  is  so. 
The  fact  however  being  regarded  as  proved  by  the 
immistakable  declaration  of  the  Text,  there  are  yet 
external  and  corroborative  considerations  moving  in 
the  same  line,  and  confirming  the  same  conclusion, 
and  on  these  we  will  briefly  dwell. 

And  I  would  observe  first,  that  if  the  Bible  pre- 
sents Christ  as  God's  method  of  salvation  at  all,  we 
should  presume  that  it  would  be  His  exclusive  method. 
It  would  be  like  God  to  anticipate  this  of  Him,  like 
His  workings  in  other  departments  of  His  empire. 
We  find  God  to  be  a  God  of  order  everywhere,  not 
doing  things  in  a  loose  and  dishevelled  way  in  any 
department,  not  allowing  us  to  presume  for  a  moment 
that  we  can  deal  with  Him  as  we  list,  that  we  can 
carve  our  own  way  to  a  desired  object  or  end,  not 


62  THOUGHTS   FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

minding  His  way  at  all.  We  find  that  He  holds  ns 
to  fixed  terms  and  ways,  to  orderly  courses  in  every- 
thing. He  w^ill  have  nothing  to  do  with  us  in  any 
wild,  irregular  methods  we  may  choose  to  adopt.  We 
come  against  Him,  we  war  with  Him  when  we  at- 
tempt so  to  act.  We  must  study  Him,  find  out  His 
ways,  get  into  line,  and  move  in  straight  courses,  and 
then  we  find  that  God  will  meet  us,  and  work  with 
us,  and  help  us  on  to  our  end.  Given  a  definite  goal 
and  object,  there  is  a  Divinely  devised  way  to  it,  and 
we  must  follow  it  or  we  shall  never  reach  it.  If  one 
would  cultivate  his  mind,  win  earthly  good,  reach 
heights  of  fortune  or  fame,  there  must  be  a  method  to 
his  workings.  The  stars  in  their  courses  fight  against 
one  when  he  crosses  their  path.  A  man  off  the  track 
is  as  helpless  and  as  useless  as  an  engine  off  the  track. 
The  dealings  of  God  in  all  departments  would  lead  us 
to  the  anticipation  that  if  He  has  devised  and  revealed 
one  way  of  salvation, — if  He  has  given  one  name,  that 
He  w^ould  give  no  other.  God  is  not  the  author  of 
confusion  in  any  sphere,  much  less  in  the  highest,  the 
spiritual  sphere.  It  would  be  against  all  the  analogies 
of  nature,  against  all  the  operations  of  Jehovah  in 
other  departments  to  presume  for  a  moment  that  it 
made  no  special  difference  with  Him  whether  we  took 
His  way  to  secure  salvation,  or  some  other  way,  or  no 
way  at  all.  If  He  has  originated  a  way  and  revealed 
it,  all  the  presumptions  are  that  He  will  hold  us  to  it, 


ONE   WAY    OF    SALVATION.  63 

not  allowing  us  to  cross  it,  and  run  counter  to  it  in 
stern  opposition,  or  in  wild  and  loose  thoughtlessness 
and  indifFerence.  Depend  upon  it,  if  Christ  is  God's 
way  at  all,  it  will  be  His  one  way,  His  only  way  of 
saving  man. 

Secondly :  If  Christ  is  God's  way  of  saving  men,  we 
should  presume  that  His  regard  for  His  son,  and  for 
all  that  He  has  done  to  secure  human  salvation,  would 
permit  Him  to  allow  no  competitor  with  this  method 
of  salvation.  It  is  assumed  here  that  Christ  is  a  way 
of  salvation,  a  way  devised  in  Heaven,  in  the  counsels 
of  eternity,  revealed  in  due  time  on  the  earth.  If 
He  is  a  way  and  the  exclusive  way,  then  He  will 
forever  maintain  His  own  pre-eminence,  rising  far 
aloft,  standing  in  isolated  and  conspicuous  grandeur, 
without  a  rival  or  competitor  ;  but  if  He  is  only  one 
Avay  among  others,  then  He  has  competitors ;  He  does 
not  occupy  a  position  of  conspicuous  grandeur.  Lift 
other  methods  of  saving  men  into  sight,  allow  that 
though  Christ  is  one  way  of  salvation.  He  is  not  the 
exclusive  one,  and  then  by  so  much  as  you  give  prom- 
inence or  even  possibility  to  other  methods,  you  di- 
minish the  value  of  Christ  as  a  way.  If  God  allows 
other  methods.  He  is  allowing  them  to  come  into  com- 
petition with  the  method  by  His  Son,  and  by  so  much 
He  is  diminishing  the  value  of  His  Son's  method.  He 
cannot  exalt  others  without  diminishing  this.  If 
Christ  is  one  way,  and  there  be  more  or  less  other 


64:  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE    CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

ways,  then  it  matters  not  so  much  whether  men  be- 
lieve in  Jesus. 

The  Everlasting  Father  either  means  that  His  Son 
shall  be  the  exclusive  way  of  salvation,  or  not.  If  He 
does.  He  exalts  Him  ;  if  not.  He  disparages  Him.  If 
He  allows  rivals,  He  exalts  those  rivals.  It  is  utterly 
imjDOSsible  that  Christ  shall  maintain  His  position  as  a 
Saviour,  if  the  Father  allows  others  to  be  Saviours 
also.  If  men  need  not  go  to  Heaven  by  the  Cross, 
but  by  some  other  way,  then  the  cross  may  become 
an  old,  worn,  imused  way  ;  the  grass  may  grow  over  it, 
the  winds  may  sigh  a  mournful  requiem  over  its  de- 
sertion, no  footfall  of  a  traveller  may  cheer  it,  heaven 
may  be  filled  through  other  avenues,  and  other  songs 
than  those  of  praise  to  the  Lamb  may  echo  through 
the  arches  of  the  upper  Temple.  There  can  be  no 
way  of  salvation  elevated  into  competition  with  the 
way  by  Christ,  without  disparaging  Christ.  Is  it  pre- 
sumable that  the  Father  will  erect  any  Saviour,  one  or 

many,  into  competition  with  His  Son  ? 

Thirdly :  On  the  simple  principle  of  economy,  we 
should  anticipate  that  salvation  by  Christ — if  a  way  at 
all — would  be  the  exclusive  way.  Profusion  is  in- 
deed a  characteristic  of  the  Divine  doings."  There  is 
seemingly  a  superfluity  of  beauty  and  grandeur  in  the 
works  of  God.  But  while  this  is  true,  it  is  no  less  true 
that  there  is  a  wise  economy.     God  never  makes  one 

hing  do  the  work  of  another.     In  that  widest  field 


ONE   WAY   OF   SALVATION.  65 

of  beauty — ^the  flowers — He  does  not  make  a  rose  to 
hide  the  violet  or  to  fulfil  its  function.  The  beauty  of 
the  rose  is  not  the  beauty  of  the  violet.  *In  greater 
things,  God  does  not  create  one  river,  one  lake,  one 
ocean,  one  continent,  to  fulfil  the  office  of  another. 
He  does  not  make  one  sun  to  do  the  work  of  another. 
Things  do  not  overlap  or  run  together,  or  perform  each 
other's  tasks,  so  that  anything  that  God  has  made  is 
useless,  being  crowded  out  and  made  so  by  something 
else. 

Looked  at  closely,  there  is  economy  in  all  the  works 
of  God.  "We  should  expect  this  when  we  come  to  the 
spiritual  realm — profusion,  exuberance,  no  waste,  but 
wise  and  glorious  economy. 

God  has  given  under  Heaven  one  name  among 
men,  whereby  they  may  be  saved ;  it  is  a  good  name, 
it  is  an  all-sufficient  name,  it  is  fully  adequate  to  the 
purposes  for  which  it  is  given — a  name  liigh  in  the 
Heavens,  a  name  without  a  rival.  And  why  should 
we  anticipate,  now  that  the  Father  has  provided  and 
named  Him  as  the  Saviour,  that  He  would  provide 
and  name  another  to  do  the  same  work,  fulfil  the  same 
function,  stand  in  the  same  relation  ?  What  economy 
in  providing  Him,  and  then  providing  another  ?  Is  it 
like  God  to  do  so  ?  Is  our  God  a  God  of  wild  extrava- 
gance? Can  He  even  make  Saviours  so  many,  that 
they  should  rival  each  other  ?  Would  He  have  sum- 
moned His  Son  in,.,wild  wastefulness  to  come  to  eaiih, 


6Q  THOUGHTS   FOR  THE   CHRISTIAN   LITE. 

take  on  Him  our  nature,  endure  reproaclies,  suffer 
and  die  to  provide  a  way  of  salvation,  when  a  simple 
word  of  His  could  create  other  Saviours,  that  without 
an  J  such  discipline  or  any  such  suffering  would  do 
just  as  well  or  nearly  as  well  as  He?  If  Christ  is  not 
the  exclusive  Saviour,  then  other  Saviours  could  be 
made  without  the  cross,  and  the  cross  is  all  an  idle 
waste.  If  all  that  Christ  endured  from  the  cradle  to  the 
grave,  was  and  is  requisite  to  fit  Him  for  a  Saviour,  then 
there  is  no  waste — there  is  a  wise  economy ;  but  if  it  was 
not  necessary,  if  there  are  other  Saviours, — made  such 
of  the  Father  without  any  suffering,  or  any  cross  and 
death,  then  the  provision  of  such  a  Saviour,  in  such  a 
way  for  man,  is  an  idle  extravagance.  It  was  tossing 
ocean  into  tempest,  to  waft  a  feather  ;  it  was  enacting 
an  awful  drama  with  a  tragic  end,  that  might  have 
been  spared.  ^  • 

Fourthly :  It  is  desirable  that  we  should  have 
some  one  name,  some  clear  and  definite  way  of  sal- 
vation, when  men — lost  men — ask  us  how  they  are 
to  be  saved.  It  is  desirable  that  the  Bible  should 
clearly  indicate  some  way,  some  one  way ;  and  that 
Christian  men  and  ministers  should  be  able  to  point 
it  out  to  others  clearly,  definitely,  so  that  they  shall 
see  it.  Indeed,  if  men  are  lost,  and  if  the  Bible  re- 
veals a  way  of  salvation,  its  chief  value  consists  in  the 
clearness  and  definiteness  with  which  it  makes  known 
that  way,  and  enables  us  to  make  i^  known  to  others. 


ONE   WAY    OF    SALVATION.  67 

I  know  of  nothing  that  would  be  so  adapted  to  cast 
suspicion  upon  the  Bible,  as  to  have  it  come  to  us 
with  a  revelation  of  many  ways,  as  though  one  were 
as  good  as  another ;  or  with  an  indefinite,  hazy  pres- 
entation of  the  one  way.  That  the  Bible  is  clear 
and  pointed ;  that  it  does  not  go  off  in  loose,  dis- 
jointed statements  on  the  great  theme  of  human  sal- 
vation, but  concentrates  its  light  on  the  one  point; 
that  it  holds  men  to  one  exclusive  salvation,  making 
it  as  clear  as  though  ten  thousand  suns  were  shining 
upon  it,  is  a  proof  that  it  comes  from  God.  There  is 
no  looseness  about  the  Bible  on  this  point,  no  diver- 
sity of  statement,  no  letting  men  off  with  the  idea 
that  they  may  do  this  or  that  or  a  thousand  things 
to  be  saved — one  thing  being  about  as  important  as 
another,  one  way  about  as  well  as  another.  It  holds 
up  Christ,  and  Christ  alone,  as  the  Saviour.  Christ 
is  its  Alpha  and  Omega.  It  presents  no  other  name. 
It  affirms  that  there  is  no  other.  It  does  not  palter 
and  equivocate,  and  double  and  turn  on  its  track.  It 
faces  the  question :  how  shall  man  be  saved  ?  It 
makes  us  face  it ;  it  answers  it  with  the  clearness  and 
force  of  a  trumpet. 

This,  I  say,  is  desirable.  Standing  on  the  Bible, 
speaking  from  it,  we  want  to  be  able  to  give  men  a 
definite  answer  to  the  one  question,  "What  must  I 
do  to  be  saved  1 "  We  want  to  give  an  answer  that 
will  have  the  precision  and  clearness,  and  decisiveness 


68  THOUGHTS    FOE   THE   CHKISTIAi?    LIFE. 

of  an  answer  to  a  mathematical  problem.  The  Chris- 
tian man  or  minister  who  is  not  prepared  to  answer 
that  question,  has  no  function  in  this  world.  We  do 
not  want  to  say,  or  be  compelled  to  say,  that  the  Bible 
gives  an  uncertain  resj)onse  to  this  question.  "When 
men  are  running  for  their  lives,  and  they  ask  us  the 
path  of  safety — for  a  refuge  that  shall  house  them, 
we  do  not  want  to  be  in  the  dark,  or  be  compelled  to 
Bpeak  vaguely.  We  want  to  say,  "  There  is  the  way 
—yonder  is  the  refuge."  When  men  are  in  earnest 
to  secure  salvation,  they  want  no  loose,  dishevelled 
answers.  They  know  that  they  are  dealing  with  a 
God  who  will  hold  them  to  terms,  and  they  want  to 
Icnow  what  they  are.  We  say,  Christ  is  the  Saviour. 
He,  and  He  only,  is  the  Way.    He,  the  Refuge. 

If  the  text  be  true — if  our  comments  on  it  are 
true,  then  I  would  remark,  in  conclusion,  that  his  is 
the  most  broad,  the  most  charitable  spirit,  that  holds 
men  to  the  strict,  definite  method  of  salvation  pre- 
sented in  the  Gospel.  There  is  no  charity  in  going 
outside  of  the  Bible  for  a  reply  to  that  question, 
"  What  must  I  do  to  be  saved  ?  "  There  is  no  true 
mental  breadth  in  giving  another  or  broader  answer 
to  it  than  the  Bible  gives. 

We  do  not  regard  a  physician  as  very  broad 
and  catholic,  who  says  to  a  patient,  "  Do  this  or 
that,  it  matters  little  what."  The  broad-minded 
physician  is  one  who  knows  nature's  laws,  and  holds 


ONE   WAY   OF   SALVATION.  69 

his  patient  rigidly  to  them,  and  says,  "  You  will  re- 
cover in  this  way,  and  not  in  that."  So  with  the 
lawyer,  so  with  all  men.  Ask  any  man  in  his 
special  profession,  what  you  must  do  in  a  particular 
exigency,  and  you  expect  some  definite  reply,  and 
value  your  teacher  as  he  gives  you  one.  So  when 
you  ask  that  greatest  of  all  questions  that  ever  agi- 
tates the  human  soul,  "  How  shall  I  be  saved  ? " 
— when  you  grow  earnest  about  it,  you  will  feel  that 
he  is  the  truest  and  most  charitable  man  who  has 
some  definite  response  to  give,  and  not  he  who  sends 
you  over  all  creation  to  do  some  hazy  thing,  or  series 
of  things,  as  though  one  were  as  good  as  another. 

Yerily,  terms  have  got  new  definitions.  Loose- 
ness is  charity.  Definiteness,  strictness,  is  bigotry. 
But  in  spite  of  all  our  ideas  and  definitions,  God  and 
His  kingdom  will  go  on  their  way.  We  are  lost  men 
outside  of  that  kingdom.  There  is  a  way  into  it — 
Jesus  Christ.  There  is  a  name,  one  name  given 
whereby  we  can  be  saved.  That  name  is  Jesus.  I 
know  of  no  other.  There  has  come  from  the  sweet 
heavens  over  us,  no  other.  It  is  enough.  We  need 
no  other. 


VI. 

FAITH    ROOTED    IN    DARKNESS. 

And  lie  went  out^  not  hioicing  whither  he  went. — Heb.  xi.  8, 

ABRAHAM  was  a  true  man,  and  therefore 
must  have  loved  the  place  of  his  birth,  the 
scenes  where  his  young  feelings  grew,  his  kindred, 
and  his  early  associates.  He  had  grown  to  mature 
life  among  these  scenes  and  these  friends,  and  his 
roots  must  have  struck  deep  and  wide  when  he  re- 
ceived the  summons  from  God  to  depart.  He  was  to 
leave  his  native  country,  and  go  out  to  a  land  of 
which  God  should  tell  him  in  due  time.  There  were 
promises  made  of  future  good,  of  a  seed  that  should 
be  as  the  stars  of  the  heavens.  In  him  all  the  fami- 
lies of  the  earth  should  be  blessed.  As  men  regarded 
him,  as  they  blessed  or  cursed  him,  so  should  they  be 
blessed  or  cursed.  He  had  these  assurances,  and, 
resting  on  them,  at  the  word  of  Jehovah  he  rends 
old  ties,  turns  his  back  on  old  sights,  and  forsakes 
those  who  will  not  be  persuaded  to  heed  the  same 
voice,  and  follow  his  fortunes.  The  commendations 
bestowed  upon  Abraham    so   copiously,   are    based 


FAITH   ROOTED   IN   DARKNESS.  71 

upon  this  simple,  cliildlike  obedience  to  the  Divine 
word,  and  this  unwavering  confidence  in  the  Divine 
promises.  He  asked  no  vouchers  from  God  ;  no 
pledges  apart  from  His  word,  for  the  fulfilment  of 
His  word.  He  staked  his  all  on  the  truthfulness 
of  the  simple  assertion  of  his  Maker.  He  was  will- 
ing to  stand  or  fall,  live  or  die,  on  that.  If  that 
failed  him,  then  he  might  perish,  but  with  him  would 
perish  the  solid  earth  and  the  pillared  heavens.  He 
grasped  the  word,  he  held  it,  and  trusting  to  it,  left 
his  home  and  went  out,  not  knowing  whither  he  went. 
This  course  of  procedure  on  the  part  of  Abraham, 
seems  at  times  to  us  a  strange  one ;  an  isolated  case, 
standing  out  there  in  the  dawn  of  the  world's  history, 
drawing  to  itself  a  whole  cluster  of  eyes  and  hearts, 
winning  the  world's  eulogies  for  its  novelty,  and  its 
oriental  simplicity  and  beauty.  In  its  mere  circum- 
stances and  appendages,  in  the  simple  vesture  or  set- 
ting of  the  act,  it  is  strange,  and  so  wondrously  at- 
tractive. But  in  its  interior  meaning,  in  its  exem- 
pUiry  force,  it  is  not  at  all  strange.  Abraham,  in  this 
initial  act  of  his  historic  life,  in  that  section  of  it  that 
stands  out  in  Divine  illumination,  is  mainly  interest- 
ing to  us,  not  as  placing  himself  out  of  the  reach  of 
our  sympathy,  not  as  doing  some  romantic  service 
til  at  stirs  only  the  romantic  elements  in  our  nature, 
not  as  passing  out  of  the  beat  and  circuit  of  our 
tliought  and  apprehension,  but  as  coming  within  the 


12  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE    CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

range  of  our  sympathy,  and  as  placing  before  ns  an 
example  which  we,  in  our  modern  time,  and  in  our 
humble  life,  may  and  should  imitate. 

Substantially,  we  are  summoned  here,  where  we 
are,  now  in  the  time  in  which  we  live,  to  do  the  same 
thing ;  and  the  force  of  Abraham's  life,  and  especially 
this  initial  act  of  his  life  upon  us,  centres  just  here, 
that  it  should  prompt  us  to  do  the  same  thing. 

We  are  to  go  forth. 

We  are  to  do  it  under  the  power  of  the  simple 
principle,  faith. 

Like  him  we  are  to  go  forth,  not  knowing  whither 
we  go. 

1.  We  are  to  go  forth,  not  physically,  perhaps,  as 
did  Abraham ;  not  out  of  our  city,  or  town,  or  lo- 
cality, into  another ;  not  out  of  our  native  land  into 
a  foreign  land.  We  may  not  be  summoned  to  leave 
these  scenes  that  we  have  gazed  on  so  long,  these 
friends  that  have  knit  themselves  so  firmly  to  us, 
these  stars  that  have  shone  upon  us  from  our  infancy, 
these  waters  that  have  danced  their  own  joyousness 
into  our  souls,  to  look  upon  other  lands  and  other 
skies,  and  dwell  among  strange  people.  There  may 
be  no  summons  of  this  sort  from  the  highest  heavens, 
to  go  forth  from  the  homes  of  our  fathers ;  but  there 
is  a  summons  to  go  forth  into  the  regions  of  new 
thoughts,  new  purposes,  new  "feelings  and  plans,  new 
aspirations,  new  hopes  and  desires — ^in  a  word,  into  a 


FAITH    ROOTED   IN   DARKNESS.  73 

new  life,  a  life  that  sliall  have  other  springs  and 
other  nutriment  than  we  can  derive  from  our  old 
haunts  and  our  old  associations.  I^ot  more  surely  and 
tenaciously  did  Abraham  cling  to  the  wonted  scenes 
and  friendships  of  his  early  home,  than  do  we  cling 
to  the  scenes,  the  friendships,  the  hopes  and  objects 
of  our  present  life.  We  are  of  the  earth,  earthy. 
Our  thoughts,  feelings,  wishes,  circle  within  its  do- 
main. We  may  be  excursive  beings;  we  may  love 
to  roam,  to  look  upon  new  lands,  new  customs,  new 
arts,  but  it  is  within  the  well-marked  enclosure  of 
earth.  We  love  it,  we  yearn  for  it,  we  cling  to  it. 
Always  our  first  life  is  simply  the  natural  life  into 
which  our  birth  introduces  us.  Among  its  objects, 
we  move,  among  its  interests  we  are  quickened ;  its 
ambitions  stir  us,  its  sympathies  affect  us,  its  beauties 
appeal  to  our  gesthetic  natures.  Within  its  sphere  we 
act,  all  that  belongs  to  it  belongs  to  us.  Thought,  af- 
fection, volition,  all  within  us  that  it  in  its  broad  field 
of  interest  can  excite,  is  excited.  We  become  as  am- 
ple, as  cultured,  as  tender,  as  affectionate,  as  it  can 
make  us.  But  when  it  has  done  all  for  us,  when  it 
has  touched  us  at  every  point  at  which  it  can  touch 
us,  when  it  has  exhausted  upon  us  its  last  appeal,  we 
are  as  yet  only  stirred  upon  the  surface  of  our  na- 
ture. There  are  deeper  elements  that  it  cannot  touch, 
there  are  strings  that  it  cannot  make  to  vibrate. 
The  soul  w^as  made  for  earth,  but  not  for  earth  alone. 


74  THOUGHTS  FOK  THE   CHKISTIAN   LIFE. 

It  was  made  to  be  educated  by  it,  but  not  by  it  alone. 
It  must  while  yet  a  denizen  of  earth,  arise  and  go 
out  of  earth,  it  must  break  through  the  simply  natu- 
ral into  the  spiritual  for  which  it  was  preeminently 
made,  and  where  emphatically  is  the  theatre  of  its 
activities,  and  its  aspirations  and  hopes.  It  must 
heed  the  voices  that  come  to  it  from  thence.  It  must 
be  awake  to  the  objects  that  lie  within  the  infinite 
scope  of  the  spiritual  realm.  It  must  be  stirred  by 
its  fears,  be  incited  by  its  hopes,  be  moved  by  its 
beauties. 

We  naturally  love  to  settle  down  in  our  own  fa- 
miliar clime,  within  the  settled  order  of  our  simply 
natural  emotions  and  feelings  and  volitions.  We  are 
conservative  of  the  earthly,  and  have  appetencies  for 
it.  The  spiritual  is  out  of  our  beat,  out  of  the  range 
of  our  sympathies ;  it  is  a  foreign  region  to  us.  We 
cling  to  the  old  and  familiar.  But  the  voice  comes, 
"  Up  !  arise !  get  you  out  from  this  place  !  "  We 
must  be  born  again ;  born  into  the  spiritual  as  we 
have  been  born  into  the  natural.  We  must  be  roused 
to  see  and  feel  the  fact  that  the  spiritual  world  is  a 
reality ;  that  it  is  no  mere  dim  and  shadowy  and  un- 
certain thing  ;  that  it  is  substantial ;  that  it  is  for  us ; 
that  we  must  enter  consciously  into  it,  come  into  it  as 
really  as  we  come  into  this  world,  and  that  we  shall 
only  come  into  our  true  home,  our  true  hopes  and 
friendships,  when  we  come  into  it.     We  must  do  this, 


FAITH   EOOTED   IN   DARKNESS.  75 

for  earth  cannot  nourish  a  true  life.  We  starve,  we 
die,  our  faculties  spend  themselves  clinging  to  it. 
"We  must  arise  and  go  forth. 

2.  We  must  thus  go  forth  under  the  guidance  of 
the  same  principle  that  governed  Abraham — faith  in 
God's  word.  Canaan,  or  rather  that  unknown  land 
into  which  Abraham  was  summoned  to  go,  was  his 
spiritual  world.  He  had  not  traversed  it,  he  knew 
not  of  its  existence  by  any  sight  of  his  own  eye,  or 
by  any  surveys  of  his  countrymen.  It  was  a  region 
whose  existence  was  as  unproved  by  human  investiga- 
tions, as  the  spiritual  realm  is  by  our  natm-al  eye. 
There  was  an  unknown  land  ;  God  said  so,  and  sum- 
moned him  to  go  out  into  it,  and  he  went.  It  had 
the  effect  on  him,  the  spiritual  effect  that  it  has  on  us, 
when  summoning  up  our  affections,  we  send  them  to 
plant  themselves  in  the  spiritual  world,  the  world  of 
God,  of  angels,  and  of  all  that  are  born  of  God.  We 
know  there  is  a  spiritual  world,  because  God  has  told 
us  there  is.  We  have  not  discovered  it.  Xo  Colum- 
bus has  sailed  athwart  the  billowy  sea  that  parts  us 
from  it,  and  brought  it  to  light,  and  come  back  with 
strange  stories  of  its  tropical  grandeurs,  and  strange 
specimens  of  its  unknown  dwellers.  No  telescope 
has  been  plied  in  the  heavens.  No  Herschel  has 
stolen  out  of  the  firmament  the  secret  of  its  exist- 
ence, and  brought  the  evidences  of  its  grandeurs.  No. 
We  know  it  because  God  has  told  us  so.    We  have 


76  THOUGHTS    FOK   THE    CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

suggestions  of  it  indeed  in  oui'  own  souls-— in  the 
overplus  of  power  within  us,  in  the  surplusage  of  as- 
piration that  earth  cannot  absorb,  in  faculties  that  lie 
unused  if  earth  and  time  be  all.  But  it  is  nothing 
more  than  conjecture  with  us.  It  becomes  a  reality 
when  we  stand  in  God's  light — in  other  words,  when 
we  credit  His  word,  Avhen  we  believe.  It  is  Faith 
that  opens  up  to  us  that  vast  domain,  the  spiritual 
realm ;  faith  that  makes  it  a  bright  and  glorious 
world ;  faith  that  crowds  it  with  lofty  and  burnished 
intelligences  ;  faith  that  fills  it  with  objects  of  grand- 
eur, that  puts  the  torch  to  our  dead  affections,  and 
makes  them  glow  with  love  toward  it ;  faith  that  in- 
cites our  wills  that  hitherto  chose  the  earthly,  to 
choose  and  prosecute  the  spiritual,  the  heavenly,  the 
divine.  It  is  no  new  principle  that  starts  us  on  this 
divine  errand,  this  journey  out  of  the  known  and  fa- 
miliar into  the  unknown  and  unfamiliar ;  out  of  the 
old  and  settled  order  of  wonted  earthly  feelings,  into 
a  new  and  higher  order  of  celestial  feelings ;  it  is  the 
same  old  principle  that  started  Abraham  out  of  his 
old  home,  and  from  his  old  associates  in  Ur  of  the 
Chaldees,  to  go  into  that  unknown  country  of  which 
God  had  told  him,  and  which  in  good  time  He  would 
show  him.  Faith  is  the  substance  of  things  unseen 
to  us,  and  under  its  sure,  its  intelligent  guidance,  we 
go  forth  to  the  spiritual,  to  find  a  home  and  take  ven- 
tures in  it,  to  gather  up  treasures  there,  to  make  its 


FAITH   ROOTED    IN   DAEKNESS.  77 

dweUers  our  friends,  and  its  objects  our  objects  of  su- 
j^reme  regard. 

3.  And  when  we  thus  go  forth  in  affection  to  the 
spiritual,  under  the  direction  of  a  simple  faith,  we  re- 
semble the  Father  of  all  believers  in  this  particular — 
we  know  not  whither  we  go.  1  do  not  mean  now, 
that  we  have  no  intelligent  conception  of  the  land 
whither  as  pilgrims  we  journey,  that  eye  hath  not 
seen  its  beauties,  nor  ear  heard  its  sounds  of  harmony, 
nor  heart  conceived  the  elements  of  its  bliss.  How- 
ever true  it  may  be  that,  when  we  go  forth  into  the 
domain  of  the  spiritual,  we  do  not  know  specifically 
and  definitely  what  we  shall  come  to  in  it,  that  is 
not  the  truth  on  which  I  wish  to  dwell  now.  It  is 
this,  rather :  that  when  we  commit  ourselves  to  the 
guidance  of  faith  in  God,  and  go  forth  to  meet  God 
in  His  own  home  and  in  our  home,  we  do  not  know 
what  we  shall  meet  on  the  road ;  we  know  not  what 
precise  paths  will  be  opened  up  for  us  to  traverse,  un- 
der the  direction  of  our  faith.  We  believe  all  that 
God  has  said  about  earth  and  time,  about  heaven  and 
hell,  about  eternity  and  its  awful  realities.  We  be- 
lieve that  we  may  be,  and  are,  the  children  of  God, 
and  through  Christ,  may  come  into  our  heritage; 
we  go  forth  into  earth,  into  life,  under  the  dominant 
power  of  this  simple  faith  ;  and  when  we  do  so,  we 
do  not  know  what  will  happen  to  us,  into  what  new 
positions,  new  associations,  new  responsibilities,  new 


78  THOUGHTS  FOR  THE   CHEISTIAN   LIFE. 

trials,  new  difficulties,  new  agonies,  we  may  come. 
In  this  respect  we  are  like  Abraliam ;  we  go  forth,  not 
knowing  whither  we  go.  We  commit  ourselves  to 
the  keeping  of  a  new  principle,  a  new  and  vital  force, 
a  new  Director,  and  we  know  not  where,  in  the  inter- 
val between  the  hour  when  we  commit  ourselves  to 
it,  and  the  hour  when  it  shall  land  us  in  Heaven,  it 
will  carry  us. 

And  in  this  respect  it  is  like  every  principle,  every 
deep  and  dominant  affection  of  our  souls.  When  we 
cherish  any  masterly  love,  when  we  yield  to  any  mas- 
terly principle,  we  do  not  know  where  it  will  carry 
us,  and  this  is  the  case  whether  the  love,  the  principle, 
be  good  or  bad.  When  a  youth  yields  himself  to  an 
associate,  he  knows  not  where  he  will  carry  him. 
When  an  overmastering  passion  bursts  up  in  his  soul, 
and  sweeps  away  the  barriers  of  conscience  and  early 
instruction,  he  knows  not  to  what  it  will  bring  him. 
When  he  looks  upon  the  wine  when  it  is  red,  and  lifts 
it  with  many  a  tremor  to  his  lips,  he  knows  not  where 
it  will  land  him.  When  a  young  woman  yields  to  an 
all-controlling  vanity,  and  resolves  at  every  hazard  to 
trick  her  frail  body  for  show,  she  knows  not  whither 
it  will  hurry  her,  through  what  vortices  of  passion, 
what  declivities  of  woe,  sloping  to  perdition.  It  is 
all  unknown.  Under  the  guidance  of  an  evil  passion, 
a  principle,  an  appetite,  the  youth  goes  forth  not 
knowing  whither  he  goes. 


FAITH   ROOTED   IN    DARKNESS.  Y9 

And,  on  the  other  hand,  when  one  commits  him- 
self to  the  mastery  of  a  pure  affection,  a  divine  prin- 
ciple, he  knows  not  whither  it  will  lead  him,  through 
what  scenes  of  joy  or  suffering,  life  or  death.  A  man 
takes  the  woman  of  his  love  to  his  new  home ;  he 
loves  her  as  man  should  love.  Yeiled  to  him  are  the 
dark  portals  of  the  coming  years.  He  knows  not 
what  tears  he  will  weep,  or  what  smiles  will  play 
upon  his  cheek  as  the  result  of  his  love.  A  mother 
bears  a  child.  His  very  birth  brings  her  tortures  that 
she  dreamed  not  of,  and  which  her  mighty  affection 
for  husband  and  child  could  alone  enable  her  to  bear. 
She  has  come  under  the  power  of  a  new  feeling,  and 
she  knows  not  whither  it  will  herald  her.  The  child 
has  her  peace  or  woe  in  his  keeping.  He  may  climb 
to  holiness,  and  joy  irradiates  her  soul;  he  may 
rush  to  ruin,  and  her  soul  becomes  a  spring  of  bit- 
terness. 

A  man  loves  his  country,  and  that  love  bears  him 
from  wife,  and  children,  and  home,  to  the  tented  field, 
to  the  raging  battle ;  and,  as  the  result  of  it,  he  may 
sigh  years  away  in  agony,  or  his  body  may  sleep  its 
last  sleep  amid  the  heaped  trenches  of  the  promis- 
cuous dead  on  the  field  of  his  glory.  It  is  the  very 
element  of  power  in  our  affections  and  our  j^rinciples, 
that  when  we  once  give  ourselves  up  to  them,  they  be- 
come our  masters,  and  carve  paths  for  us  that  wc 
dreamed  not  of.     It  is  so  with  our  simply  earthly  af- 


80  THOUGHTS   FOK  THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

fections  and  principles ;  it  is  empliaticallj  so  with 
tliose  of  a  higher  order,  those  that  connect  ns  with 
God,  with  His  kingdom.  His  friends,  with  onr  own 
spiritual  heritage. 

Abraham  believed,  and  committing  himself  to  his 
faith,  he  went  ont,  not  knowing  whither  he  went.  It 
was  one  feature  of  his  faith,  that  he  should  not  know. 
If  he  had  known  he  would  not  have  believed.  K  the 
spiritual  world  were  mapped  out  to  us  like  our 
native  village,  it  could  hardly  be  said  that  we 
believe.  Faith  strikes  its  roots  into  darkness.  Take 
up  its  roots  to  examine  them,  and  it  would  be 
like  unearthing  the  roots  of  a  tree  to  examine  them. 
It  would  die. 

We  must  go  forth  under  the  control  of  faith  into 
darkness,  not  knowing  whither  we  go.  When  we 
have  once  said  that  we  will  believe  the  word  of 
God,  that  v/e  will  commit  ourselves  to  the  guidance 
of  faith,  we  do  so  if  we  act  intelligently,  under  the 
full  conviction  that  we  are  utterly  ignorant  what  will 
come  of  it  in  the  interval  between  the  hour  when  we 
believe,  and  the  hour  of  our  salvation.  A  life  of 
faith  is  a  life  all  in  the  dark  to  us.  We  are  to  make 
no  compromises,  no  covenants  with  ease.  We  must 
seek  no  assurance  of  a  smooth  time,  an  easy  passage, 
large  possessions,  troops  of  friends,  firm  health,  fine 
houses.  Our  faith  may  bring  us  to  these  ;  it  will  very 
likely  carry  us  clear  away  from  them.     We  are  not 


FAITH   ROOTED    IN    DARKNESS.  81 

to  form  any  compact  with  our  faith,  that  we  are  to 
have  these  as  the  result  of  our  faith.  We  are  to 
commit  ourselves  to  faith  in  God,  faith  in  the  in- 
visible, faith  in  eternal  realities,  to  a  whole  earthly 
life  of  faith,  and  then  follow  where  our  faith  leads. 
It  may  be,  into  fair  fields  and  down  sunny  slopes ; 
it  may  be,  up  rough  acclivities,  and  through  dense 
forests ;  the  one  thing  for  us  is,  that  we  follow 
whither  it  guides;  that  we  believe,  and  then  take 
what  conies  of  our  faith.  The  sublime  height  of 
faith  is  reached  when  we  cherish  a  calm  indiffer- 
ence, a  holy  heedlessness  where  it  will  carry  us 
in  the  interim,  if  it  carries  us  into  the  pres- 
ence of  God,  and  the  home  of  the  good,  at 
last. 

Abraham  went  out,  not  knowing  whither  he 
went,  not  over-anxious  what  lot  should  be  his, 
whether  he  should  have  a  settled  habitation,  and 
gather  all  the  sweet  accompaniments  of  a  home 
around  him,  or  whether  he  should  dwell  in  tents, 
and  pitch  or  strike  them  as  the  Divine  word  should 
command.  To  us  has  come  the  word,  "  This  world 
is  not  your  home.  Set  not  your  affections  on  it. 
There  is  a  City  above,  there  is  a  World  of  light 
and  purity.  Go  forth,  go  forth  under  the  simple 
power  and  guidance  of  faith !  You  know  not  to 
what    earthly    trials    your    faith    will    bring    you, 

4* 


82  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE   CHEISTIAJST    LIFE. 

what  sunderings  of  friendships,  what  forsaking  of 
what  yon  hold  dear,  what  losses  and  crosses,  what 
smiles,  what  groans — bnt  believe,  go  forth,  com- 
mit yourself  to  faith,  and  receive  all  that  follows 
from  it ! "  This  summons  comes  to  you  as  to 
Abraham.  Will  you,  like  him,  heed  it,  and  go 
forth  ? 


VII. 

SEEKING    ETERNAL    THINGS. 

If  ye  then  he  risen  with  Christy  seeh  those  things  which  are  abone^ 
where  Christ  sitteth  on  the  right  hand  of  God. — Colossians  iii.  1. 

AS  Christ  died  on  the  Cross /<?/'  sin,  so  His  people 
die  to  sin.  As  He  rose  triumphant  from  the 
dark,  cold  grave,  so  they  rise  to  a  new  spiritual  life 
in  Him. ,  l^ow  the  Apostle  would  say,  that  as 
Christ  after  His  resurrection  went  up  to  mingle 
again  in  heavenly  things ;  so  those  who  have  risen 
from  the  death,  the  grave  of  sin — for  sin  is  nothing 
but  the  soul's  death  and  entombment — are  to  seek 
those  things  which  are  above,  where  Clirist  is,  and 
where  too.  He  occupies  the  position  of  honor  and 
power,  at  the  right  hand  of  God. 

If  je  be  risen  with  Christ.  The  Apostle  makes 
the  seeking  of  the  things  above  contingent  upon  this 
rising  with  Christ.  He  expects  those  only  who  are 
dead  to  sin — who  have  risen  to  a  new  and  divine 
life,  to  seek  the  things  above. 

Others  who  are  dead  in  sin  cannot  be  expected 
to   do   it.      They  have  the  tastes,   the  desires,  the 


84:  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE    CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

aspirations  only  which  earth  and  sin  give.  This 
world  limits  their  vision.  All  the  ends  they  aim  at 
are  bounded  by  earth.  The  sky  shuts  down  close 
around  them.  They  mind — they  seek  earthly  things. 
But  those  who  are  risen  with  Christ,  who  have 
awakened  to  a  new  life,  to  nobler  desires  and  aptitudes 
— those  are  to  seek  the  things  above,  for  Christ  their 
Saviour  and  Eedeemer,  the  object  of  their  love  and 
confidence  is  there,  and  there  too  in  no  ignoble  po- 
sition ;  having  not  where  to  lay  His  head  on  earth.  He 
is  at  the  right  hand  of  God  in  heaven. 

It  -is  regarded  by  Paul  as  encouragement  and  mo- 
tive enough  for  those  who  are  risen  to  a  new  life  in 
and  with  Christ,  to  seek  the  things  above,  simply  be- 
cause Christ  is  there.  Christ  is  at  the  right  hand  of 
God,  in  heaven — this  is  the  encouragement,  and  the 
impulse  too.  He  is  enough  to  make  the  things  above 
attractive  to  you.  He  takes  away  the  shadowyness, 
the  dimness  from  these  things,  for  He  is  their  centre. 
He  gives  them  substantiality.  He  gives  them  "  a 
local  habitation  and  a  name."  All  lost  in  cloud  be- 
fore, Christ  gives  outline,  reality,  to  them  now.  To 
the  soul  stirred  with  the  desires  of  a  spiritual  life,  that 
owes  its  origin  and  support  to  Christ,  there  is  needed 
nothing  else  to  throw  attractiveness  around  the  things 
above,  than  the  simple  fact  that  Christ  is  there  among 
them,  and  the  greatest  of  all,  giving  tone  and  charac- 
ter to  all  the  rest.   The  soul  that  has  its  life  in  Christ, 


SEEKING   ETEKNAL   THINGS.  85 

looks  to  Christ,  to  tlie  place,  the  scenes  where  He  is, 
and  seeks  them  from  that  consideration  first  and 
most.  It  adds  the  highest  attractive  power  to  the 
things  above,  that  He  is  a  part,  and  the  chief  part  of 
them;  and  as  He  is  the  greatest  attraction  among 
them,  so  is  the  fact  that  He  is  at  the  right  hand 
of  God,  the  greatest  encouragement  to  seek  them ;  for 
one  located  in  such  a  place  of  power  will  send  forth 
aids  to  him  who  would  seek  them  earnestly. 

''  Seek  those  things  which  are  above."  Those 
things.  The  Apostle  does  not  specify  them.  It 
would  have  been  difficult  for  him  to  do  so.  They  are 
too  great,  too  grand  to  allow  this,  and  so  he  unites 
them  all  together,  and  pours  them  into  that  very  ex- 
pansive mould,  things.  I  know  not  of  a  more  conve- 
nient term  in  the  language.  Scriptural  writers  often 
have  to  use  it.  When  they  cannot  clasp  the  objects 
they  wish  to  present  with  any  other  girdle,  tliey  throw 
this  around  them — they  call  them  things.  All  per- 
sons, all  interests,  all  objects,  looming  up,  stretching 
away,  lightening,  darkening,  embraced  by  the  expand- 
ing soul,  and  then  lost  as  too  vast  to  be  embraced — 
covering  time — reaching  out  to  and  over  eternity, 
are  presented  by  an  all-encompassing  term — thmgs. 
The  things  that  are  above.  What  the  Apostle  has  not 
attempted  to  resolve  into  its  elements,  we  will  not  at- 
tempt.    We  will  leave  the  single  term,  witli  all  its 


86  THOUGHTS   FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

convenient  indefiniteness  and  expansiveness,  to  make 
its  own  impression. 

Seek  tlie  things  above.  We  may  seek  them  before 
we  reach  them ;  seek  them  as  the  pledge  that  we  shall 
ultimately  reach  them,  for  no  expectation  of  attaining 
them  can  be  valid,  which  is  not  fostered  by  our  seek- 
ing them.  Show  me  the  man  who  is  earnestly  bent 
on  seeking  the  things  that  are  above,  and  he  will  be 
the  man  that  I  shall  regard  as  alone  likely  to  obtain ; 
for  it  is  true  that  he  that  seeketh  and  he  only,  shall 
find. 

What  we  seek,  determines  our  predominant  tastes 
and  desires.  We  seek  that  which  we  have  a  mind  to, 
unless,  indeed,  we  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that 
we  shall  seek  in  vain — that  the  way  to  it  is  quite 
blocked  up — the  doors  all  closed.  Let  the  avenues  be 
all  open,  the  object  apparently  attainable  by  the 
efforts  we  can  put  forth,  and  then,  what  we  seek,  will 
determine  our  tastes  and  characters.  If  we  seek  the 
things  below  on  the  earth,  this  will  settle  it  that  we 
are  earthly ;  if  we  seek  the  things  above,  this  will 
decide  that  we  are  heavenly,  that  we  are  risen  with 
Christ.  The  things  above  are  the  things  amid  which 
Christ  is,  and  the  bonds  that  bind  us  to  Him,  will 
bind  us  also  to  those,  for  they  are  like  Him — are  ho- 
mogeneous with  Him — accordant  with  His  tastes  and 
feelings.  He,  we  may  be  sure,  would  not  desire 
things  that  were  ignoble  and  mean,  and  choose  them 


SEEKING   ETERNAL   THINGS.  87 

as  His  portion.  What  He  chooses,  it  ,will  be  very 
safe  for  us  to  choose.  The  things  that  He  deems  ade- 
quate for  BKm,  we  shall  do  well  to  regard  as  best 
adapted  to  us.  He  is  among  the  things  above,  and 
knows  them  and  loves  them,  and  would  have  us  know 
an41ove  them  too. 

One  of  the  main  wishes  of  Christ  with  respect  to 
us,  is  that  we  should  be  weaned  from  earth  and 
earthly  things.  He  would  not  have  us  set  our  affec- 
tions on  them.  We  are  to  stay  here  but  a  little  while, 
and  He  would  not  have  us  attemper  our  affections  to 
the  things  which  are  to  be  so  evanescent  to  us.  He 
would  not  have  us  strike  our  roots  into  the  thinsis 
from  which  they  are  to  be  speedily  plucked.  And 
besides,  He  would  not  have  us,  even  if  we  were  to 
stay  long  with  them,  become  homogeneous  with  them. 
But  He  would  wean  our  affections  from  earth  in  some 
practicable,  what  we  may  call  a  philosophical  way. 
He  knows  very  well  that  we  are  loving  beings,  that 
we  have  our  affections  out  ready  to  clasp  something. 
He  knows  that  we  cannot  be  happy  with  vacant 
hearts — with  no  predominant  object  of  affection. 
The  whole  history  of  the  race  teaches  it,  and  our  own 
souls,  so  often  full  of  unrest,  declare  it.  We  must 
have  something  to  love.  These  tendrils  of  the  heart 
must  be  out,  feeling  after  and  grasping  something. 
Out  of  itself  the  heart  goes,  and  must  go,  or  else  it 
turns  in,  like   the  scorpion    environed  by  fire,  and 


88  THOUGHTS   FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

stings  itself  to  death.  The  heart  left  vacant — swept 
of  all  occupants — ^untenanted,  is  the  seat  of  all  woe. 
It  cannot  remain  so.  A  total  wreck  of  the  soul,  or 
something  to  seek — to  love — to  interest  and  occupy 
it,  is  the  alternative.  A  heart  unoccupied  will  be  like 
a  house  unoccupied  ;  all  foul  and  dolorous  things  will 
fill  it.  The  owl  will  hoot  there.  The  satyi-  will  dance 
there.  The  birds  of  night  will  cry  there.  It  invokes 
ruin,  and  will  rush  to  ruin.  Better  that  earth  fill  the 
heart,  better  that  it  have  its  tendrils  out  to  entwine 
what  it  can  see  here  below,  than  that  it  have 
nothing. 

Earth  is  a  poor  thing  to  give  the  heart  up  to,  but 
poor  as  it  is,  it  had  better  give  itself  to  earth  than  to 
nothing.  I  would  not  take  hold  of  the  heart-strings 
that  had  wound  around  the  lowest  and  meanest  ob- 
jects here,  and  untwine  them,  if  I  had  nothing  better 
to  hold  ont  to  them.  I  would  not  go  to  the  man  who 
was  blowing  soap-bubbles  like  a  child  for  occupation, 
and  seek  to  stop  him,  if  I  should  leave  him  with  noth- 
ing to  do.  Better  let  him  blow  his  bubbles.  I  would 
not  approach  a  man  loving  an  insect,  as  some  lonely 
prisoners  have  done,  feeding  and  nourishing  it,  and 
snatch  away  his  insect,  if  I  could  not  give  him  some- 
thing better.  I  would  not  say  to  a  man  who  was 
coming  down  from  his  imperial  heights — casting  aside 
his  manly  crown,  and  contentedly  brooding  and  gloat- 
ing over  a  single  dollar,  amusing  and  delighting  him- 


1 


SEEKING   ETEENAL   THINGS.  81) 

self  with  its  brightness,  and  making  it  even  a  god,  if 
all  that  I  conld  do  for  him  would  be  to  tell  him  that 
he  was  doating  upon  a  shining  nothing.  !No.  If  his 
ignorance  was  his  bliss,  I  would  not  make  him  wise. 
The  miaer  grasping  his  bag  of  gold  is  not  the  most 
miserable  of  men, — not  half  so  miserable  as  he  who 
cannot  sink  so  low  as  to  love  it,  and  yet  has  nothing 
else  to  love.  The  miser,  even  in  loving  something, 
though  it  be  an  ignoble  something,  indicates  that  he 
is  nobly  born.  We  would  wean  no  man  from  earth, 
and  what  he  might  love  on  the  earth,  if  we  were  to 
leave  him  with  a  heart  wrenched  from  its  former  ob- 
jects, and  not  drawn  to  something  higher.  It  is  only 
as  we  have  the  things  above  to  hold  out  to  him,  that 
we  would  seek  to  draw  away  the  affections  that  were 
exhausting  their  energies  upon  things  below.  We 
would  not  stand  by  the  man  who  is  sending  his  roots 
deeper  and  deeper  into  the  earth,  and  with  the  spirit 
of  a  warning  Cassandra,  tell  him  that  the  earth  was  to 
be  burned  up,  if  we  could  not  point  him  to  a  soil  in 
which  he  might  strike  his  roots  and  draw  succulence, 
and  grow  and  bloom  forever  and  ever.  No.  It  is 
only  because  we  have  actual,  substantial  things  above 
— things  more  congenial  with  the  soid  in  its  normal, 
healthy  state — more  permanent — more  ennobling — 
more  satisfying — better  fitted  to  give  it  an  eternal 
uplift  and  expansion,  that  we  come  to  any  man  and 
say,  '^  set  not  vour  affections  on  things  on  the  earth  I  " 


90    .  THOUGHTS   FOK  THE   CHKISTIAN   LIFE. 

We  slioiild  only  torment  men  before  their  time  if  we 
had  no  tilings  above  to  show. 

But  now,  when  we  stand  beside  you,  and  solicit 
your  attention,  and  with  an  impassioned  earnestness 
strive  to  assure  you  that  all  which  you  love  that  is 
simply  of  the  earth  cannot  satisfy, — that  poor  would 
be  the  possessor  of  a  world  if  he  had  it  alone,  we  would 
give  force  to  our  appeal,  by  pointing  you  to  things 
above,  and  saying  seek  those.  Something  you  must, 
will,  and  should  seek,  for  you  are  a  desirous,  seeking, 
grasping  creature ;  but  in  seeking,  seek  the  lasting^ 
and  the  best,  seek  that  which  is  consonant  with  your 
nature,  which  will  fill  it,  and  more  than  fill  it ;  some- 
thing which  a  few  flitting  years  will  not  take  you  from, 
but  rather  take  you  to,  and  that  something  is  above 
where  Christ  your  best  Friend  is  in  His  place  of  honor. 
These  things  above  you  may  not  believe  in.  You 
may  say  that  they  are  things  of  fancy — that  they  are 
a  cloud-land,  dim,  uncertain, — that  of  the  earth  you 
are  sure, — that  its  prizes  are  those  of  the  senses, — that 
money  is  a  certain  good, — that  it  will  bring  money's 
worth,  and  that  is  almost  everything, — that  you  will 
seek,  and  if  possible,  make  sure  of  the  present  and 
seen  good,  not  risk  it  for  a  remote  and  unseen  good  ; 
— in  a  word,  that  you  prefer  to  seize  what  you  know, 
and  not  go  on  a  restless  cmsade  after  what  you  do  not 
know.  Well,  you  can  do  this,  if  so  it  pleases  you. 
In  the  very  nature  of  things,  the  things  above  cannot 


SEEKING   ETEENAi   THINGS.  91 

autlienticate  themselves  to  your  mind  by  assuming 
shape  and  presenting  themselves  to  your  bodily  senses. 
They  would  no  longer  be  things  above  if  they  did  that. 
They  would  be  things  of  the  earth.  The  things  above 
TTiust  be  invisible.  If  you  require  the  demonstrations 
of  sight,  you  are  not  the  man  whom  they  will  consent 
to  gratify.  'Eo  man  but  Thomas  would  ever  dare  to 
make  his  belief  in  a  risen  Saviour  dependent  upon 
seeing  Him,  and  thrusting  his  fingers  into  the  print 
of  the  nails.  Christ  will  not  submit  to  dictation  in 
that  way.  Neither  will  the  things  above  come  down 
to  the  things  below,  that  we  may  believe  them,  if  in- 
deed the  very  idea  of  belief  would  not  be  destroyed 
by  such  demonstrations.  If  we  seek  things  above, 
we  must  do  it  with  the  laws  aj^pertaining  to  those 
things  in  full  force,  and  one  of  these  laws  is  that  they 
shall  be  invisible,  and  so  objects  of  faith.  If  Ave  be- 
lieve not,  this  alters  nothing.     There  they  are. 

And  let  us  not  suppose  that  by  choosing  to  seek 
what  we  call  a  certainty,  instead  of  an  uncertainty, 
the  substantial  good  things  of  earth,  instead  of  the 
shadowy  good  things  above,  that  we  shall  be  as  likely 
to  come  to  them  when  life  is  all  spent,  as  if  we  had 
sought  them  with  devout  earnestness  all  our  days.  It 
would  be  but  a  sorry  and  ineffective  motive  to  present 
to  a  soul  immersed  in  earthly  things,  loving  tliera, 
seeking  them,  if  you  wished  to  wean  it  from  such 
pursuits,  and  induce  it  to  seek  things  above, — that  in 


y2  THOUGHTS   FOE  THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

a  few  passing  years  it  would  make  little  or  no  diifer- 
ence,  that  in  due  course  tlie  revolving  earth  would 
bring  us  all  to  the  things  above,  when  we  shall  seek 
them  in  due  time.  Would  not  such  an  one  say,  that  « 
he  would  then  try  both — if  possible  make  sm-e  of 
both, — that  while  amid  the  earthly  things  he  would 
seek  and  enjoy  them,  and  when  he  came  to  things 
above,  he  would  seek  and  enjoy  them  ?  Could  men 
be  induced  to  seek  things  above  in  this  way  ?  Are 
the  things  above  so  yielding,  so  accommodating,  as 
to  consent  to  wait  ?  Is  there  to  be  no  assimilation 
of  the  soul  while  on  earth  for  those  things  if  it  would 
enjoy  them  ?  If  there  is  not,  I  have  mistaken  the 
whole  economy  of  God's  kingdom.  If  I  understand 
this  economy,  the  soul  that  seeks  the  things  above, 
will  alone  come  into  possession  of  them,  will  alone 
become  fitted  to  enjoy  them.  The  soul  that  refuses 
to  believe  in  these  things,  or  believing  in  them,  still 
prefers  earthly  things  to  them,  will  not  be  as  likely 
to  find  them.  The  soul  that  is  risen  with  Christ  will 
seek  those  things  that  are  above,  for  Christ  is  there 
to  give  order,  consistence,  beauty,  and  an  ever  power- 
ful attraction  to  them. 


VIII. 

VALUE    OF    THOUGHT    ON    INVISIBLE    THINGS. 

While   we  look  not  at  the  things  which  a/re  seen,  lut  at  the 
things  ichich  are  unseen:  for  the  things  which  are  seen  are 
temporal,  hut  the  things  which  are  not  seen  are  eternal, — 
■    2  CoE.  iv.  18. 

FROM  this  passage  I  design  to  speak  of  the  im- 
portance of  thought  directed  to  invisible  and 
eternal  things.  There  are  such  things,  real,  substan- 
tial, existing  as  surely  as  those  which  we  see  and 
handle.  Thej  are  for  us — meant  to  attract  us,  to 
arrest,  quicken,  and  hold  our  minds.  We  injure  and 
wrong  ourselves  when  we  ignore  or  neglect  them. 
We  were  not  made  to  bo  absorbed  in  the  seen  and 
temporal.  We  have  faculties  which  we  never  use 
when  we  are  so.  A  portion  of  our  nature  lies  wholly 
unexercised  when  we  fail  to  think  of  the  invisible  and 
eternal.  We  were  made  to  skirt  the  boundaries  of 
the  vast  empire  of  the  unseen,  to  make  excursions 
into  it,  to  enrich  our  natures  by  the  spiritual  wealth 
it  contains,  and  which  we  may  draw  from  it. 

There  are  indeed  mighty  attractions  toward  visi- 


94:  THOUGHTS    FOE   THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

ble  and  temporal  things.  These  lie  before  and  around 
us,  are  clamorous  and  exacting,  and  cannot  be  made 
readily  to  leave  any  part  of  us  disengaged  for  excur- 
sions beyond  their  domain.  They  have  the  advantage 
in  many  respects  over  the  unseen  and  eternal,  and 
they  claim  and  get  a  large  portion  of  the  race.  But 
then  we  were  made  to  be  free — to  select  wisely  our 
objects  of  thought — to  decide  what  objects  single  or 
in  clusters  should  draw  and  hold  us — to  choose  which 
should  shape  our  entire  being  most : — the  seen  or 
unseen,  the  temporal  or  eternal.  We  can  by  effort 
send  our  minds  out  into  the  invisible ;  and  we  can 
yield  to  circumstance  and  be  the  slave  of  the  visible. 
Here  are  the  two  realms :  the  one  lying  all  around 
us  filled  with  objects  subject  to  our  senses  ;  the  other 
lying  beyond  the  reach  of  our  senses,  but  real  and 
substantial,  subject  to  our  quickened  thought,  into 
whose  very  darkness  the  soul  may  flash  its  far-darting 
imaginations,  to  light  it  up  and  make  it  attractive. 
We  were  made  for  both  these  domains — for  a  life  here 
in  the  visible,  and  a  life  yonder  in  the  invisible.  A 
rightly  trained  soul  will  bestow  on  each  what  of 
thought  each  here  and.  now  deserves.  The  danger 
with  us  all  is,  that  the  visible  will  gain  all,  and  the 
invisible  little  or  nothing,  and  I  wish  now  to  speak 
of  the  value  of  contemplation  directed  to  the  invisible 
and  eternal. 

There  is  value  in  it  from  the  knowledge  we  can 


VALUE   OF  THOUGHT   ON   INVISIBLE  THINGS.  95 

gain  from  it.  The  mind  loves  to  know.  Knowledge  is 
the  food  on  which  it  grows,  and  it  is  to  be  gained  amid 
the  invisible  as  well  as  the  visible.  There  is,  I  appre- 
hend, an  idea  somewhat  prevalent,  that  knowledge, 
in  the  true  meaning  of  the  term,  is  to  be  won  only 
from  things  visible, — that  the  moment  you  leave  its 
domain,  and  go  out  and  off  from  the  world,  and  launch 
into  the  invisible,  you  leave  the  precincts  of  knowl- 
edge and  enter  the  sphere  of  fancy  and  conjecture : 
you  leave  certainties,  and  are  subject  to  doubts.  Now 
I  need  not  stop  to  show  you  how  much  of  all  our 
knowledge  of  what  is  and  what  has  been  on  the  earth, 
lies  out  of  the  sphere  of  what  is  visible  to  us  person- 
ally— how  narrow  and  limited  would  be  our  knowl- 
edge if  we  relied  on  what  was  visible  and  tangible  to 
us.  You  know  that  our  knowledge  properly  so  called 
of  what  is  passing  on  our  globe  every  day,  comes  to 
us  not  through  our  senses,  nor  our  reason,  but  our 
faith, — the  same  principle  on  which  we  receive  our 
knowledge  of  invisible  things. 

And  will  any  one  be  so  foolish  as  to  assert  that  we 
may  linow  upon  human  testimony,  about  the  persons 
and  objects  which  lie  within  the  circle  of  the  visible, 
and  yet  cannot  know  upon  Divine  testimony  about 
the  persons  and  objects  that  lie  beyond  in  the  ckcle 
of  the  invisible  !  Must  oiu*  knowledge  be  limited  to 
what  man  tells  us  ?  Cannot  it  extend  to  what  God 
tells  us  ?    Must  the  testimony  of  one  bring  knowledge, 


96  THOUGHTS   FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

and  the  testimony  of  the  other  mere  conjecture  ?  Must 
we  stand  in  the  sunlight  when  we  listen  to  the  one 
voice,  and  in  the  shadow  when  we  heed  the  other? 
Can  the  soul  stand  on  the  firm  pedestal  of  knowledge 
in  the  one  case,  and  must  it  sink  in  yielding  and 
slimy  ooze  in  the  other  ?  Is  man's  word  a  firm 
ladder  on  which  to  mount  to  knowledge,  and  God's 
word  but  a  cloud-ladder  on  which  to  soar  to  doubt 
and  conjecture  ?  No.  Give  us  but  the  sure  revela- 
tion of  God — a  revelation  of  the  invisible  and  eternal, 
and  ascending  on  it  the  soul  may  climb  as  far  as  it 
reaches.  Contemplation  placed  under  its  guiding  ray 
will  not  enter  the  sphere  of  conjecture  and  doubt :  it 
will  not  make  excursions  into  the  domain  of  the  vast 
and  infinite  only  to  be  bewildered  and  puzzled ;  to 
come  back  with  weary  foot — gloomy  and  despondent 
— resolved  henceforth  to  cleave  fast  to  what  it  can  see 
and  feel.  There  is  a  way  of  entering  the  invisible,  a 
way  of  contemplating  it,  which  wearies  and  dissat- 
isfies, and  drives  back  to  the  solid  earth.  Enter  thej 
invisible  by  your  own  way  and  not  God's,  climb  upl 
to  the  infinite  and  eternal  over  the  wall,  and  refusal 
to  enter  by  the  divine  door,  and  you  will  enter  but  a. 
cloud-land.  All  your  thought  will  avail  nought. 
You  will  gather  no  knowledge  ;  you  will  come  backi 
with  only  wild  vagaries.  You  will  reap  a  garner  full 
of  all  wild  conjecture.  But  with  meek  and  chastened 
spirit,  enter  it  by  the  way  that  God  opens — yield  toi 


VALUE   OF   THOUGHT   ON    INVISIBLE   THINGS.  97 

His  guidance — go  as  far  as  He  permits— stop  when 
His  hand  ceases  to  lead  you — be  a  little  child  with  its 
tiny  liand  in  its  father's  hand  amid  that  vast  domain, 
and  you  will  come  back  with  clear  knowledge,  not 
with  mere  conjecture.  Through  the  revelations  of 
God  we  may  know  about  invisible  realities.  Our  circle 
of  absolute  knowledge  may  be  indefinitely  widened. 
Thought  du-ected  to  the  invisible  and  eternal  is 
valuable  as  it  yields  us  higher  motives  of  action.  The 
visible  things  about  us  yield  motives  for  a  virtuous 
life.  The  man  who  believes  in  no  God,  no  immor- 
tality, may  draw  from  this  flitting  life  and  this  passing 
world,  considerations  that  may  prompt  him  somewhat 
to  live  and  act  virtuously ;  and  yet  the  motives  drawn 
from  this  quarter  are  relatively  weak.  From  the  mere 
fact  that  you  can  weigh  and  gauge  them — that  you 
can  bring  them  all  within  the  circuit  of  your  compre- 
hension— that  there  is  nothing  stretching  away  into 
the  dim  and  infinite  ; — from  this  fact  alone  such  con- 
siderations are  weak.  Even  Paul  with  all  his  survey 
of  life  and  of  the  world,  could  hardly  draw  motive 
enough  from  them  to  do  and  sufi'er  as  he  and  his 
coadjutors  did.  "  If  in  this  life  only  we  have  hope 
we  are  of  all  men  most  miserable."  He  had  to  pierce 
tlie  future — pass  out  into  the  eternal  and  invisible,  to 
find  motives  that  should  prompt  him  to  live  the  life 
he  did.  The  existence  of  another  and  invisible  world 
gives  significance  and  value  to  this. 
5 


98  THOUGHTS   FOE   THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

"  If  dead  we  cease  to  be  :  if  total  gloom, 

Swallow  up  life's  brief  flash  for  aye,  we  fare 

As  summer  gusts  of  sudden  bii-th  and  doom 
Whose  sound  and  motion  not  alone  declare 

But  are  their  whole  of  being. 

Oh  man  !  thou  vessel,  purposeless,  unmeant  I 

Be  sad  !  be  glad !  be  neither !  seek  or  shun  ! 

Thou  hast  no  reason  why  !  thou  canst  have  none, 

Thy  being's  being  is  contradiction  ! " 

Yes,  life  is  insignificant  without  another  to  shape 
and  give  it  consistency.     This  life  rests  on  another- 
the  visible  on  the  invisible — the   temporal   on   the 
eternal,  or  it  is  nonght.     "We  mnst  live  our  finite  life 
canopied  by  the  infinite,  with  it  as  a  living  presence, 
with  it  opening  np  to  ns  its  vast  recesses,  with  it 
yielding  to  ns  its  motives,  or  we  shall  not  be  likely 
to  live  well  and  nobly  at  all.     Even  the  motives  to  a 
noble  life  drawn  from  the  visible  and  temporal,  mnst 
be  alimented  and  quickened  by  those  drawn  from, 
another  sphere,  or  they  will  fail  to  afi'ect  us.     Take] 
away  the  infinite,  and  you  only  make  a  man  a  little 
higher  kind  of  brute.     We  must  have  an  invisible  t< 
make  the  visible  pass  well.     As  some  one  has  said  of] 
God,  "  if  there  were  none,  you  must  make  one,"  S( 
I  say,  if  there  is  no  invisible  you  must  make  one,  anc 
go  into  it  and  draw  motives  from  it,  and  encompassi 
yourself  with  them,  and  shore  yourself  up,  and  presftj 
yourself  on  by  them,  or  you  will  fail  to  live  a  true  life. 


VALUE   OF   THOUGHT   ON   INVISIBLE   THINGS.  99 

Thought  must  forge  an  Eternity  to  sweep  around 
and  enfold  tlie  temporal,  or  the  temporal  is  not  worth 
the  having.  But  there  being  an  invisible  and  eternal, 
it  will  weigh  with  us  only  as  we  send  our  minds  into 
it  to  draw  motives  from  it.  The  eternal  nnthought 
of,  is  to  us  as  though  it  were  not. 

Thought  directed  to  the  invisible  and  eternal  is 
valuable,  as  giving  us  comfort  and  consolation.     This 
is  the  use  the  Apostle  makes  of  it  in  the  context: 
"  Om-  light  affliction  worketh  for  us  a  far  more  ex- 
ceeding and  eternal  weight  of  glory."     He  himself 
draws  consolation,  and  he  would  have  others  do  like- 
wise in  present  affliction  from  the  invisible  and  eter- 
nal.    Affliction  to  the  Christian  has  its  home  here. 
It  bel(^igs  not  to  his  invisible  and  eternal.    He  crosses 
the  line  that  divides  the  one  from  the  other,  to  pass 
out  of  the  sphere  of  sorrow,  and  enter  that  of  joy ; 
and  it  is  because  the  invisible  is  all  free  from  afflic- 
tion, that  the  contemplation  of  it  gives  present  conso- 
lation.     It  is  drawing  drafts  upon   future  joys,   to 
enable  the  soul  to  endure  present  sorrow^s.     There  is 
a  way  of  contemplating  the  invisible  and  eternal  that 
yields  only  gloom  and  despondency,  but  it  is  not  the 
Christian  way.     If  a  man  is  desirous  to  look  through 
the  Christian  telescope  into  the  invisible  and  eternal 
only  to  gain  a  view  which  will  enable  him  quietly  to 
live  in  present  license  and  sin,  that  telescope  will 
yield  liim  no  such  view.     If  he  wishes  to  take  the 


100  THOUGHTS   FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

Gospel  as  a  simple  policy  of  insurance  that  lie  will 
finally  reach  heaven,  live  as  he  may  ;  if  he  wishes  to 
disconnect  the  Gospel  end  from  the  Gospel  ways 
that  lead  to  it,  then  his  glance  at  Eternity  through 
the  Gospel  will  give  him  no  such  prospect  as  he  de- 
sires. But  if  a  man  will  take  the  Gospel  as  a  whole, 
take  it  for  what  it  says  of  Heaven  and  the  means 
of  reaching  it, — take  it  for  the  joys  it  reveals  and  the 
open  ways  that  lead  to  them,  not  separating  what 
God  has  joined  together — life  and  death — time  and 
eternity — the  visible  and  the  invisible  ;  if  he  will  take 
the  Christian  scheme  thus,  then  through  it  he  will 
look  upon  the  invisible  and  eternal  as  all  light  and 
sunny — all  one  scene  of  joy  and  triumph — ^not  a  tear 
— a  sigh — a  groan  ; — and  all  his  contemplations  of  it 
will  be  sweet,  all  adapted  to  temper  present  grief,  to 
tinge  the  darkest  cloud  that  ever  settles  upon  a  human 
soul  with  a  blessed  effulgence. 

Thought  directed  to  the  unseen  and  eternal  is  of 
value  as  giving  mental  elevation,  depth,  breadth.  It 
makes  larger  beings  of  us.  Other  things  being  equal, 
the  man  who  makes  frequent  excursions  into  the  in- 
visible and  eternal — makes  them,  I  mean,  not  in  aim- 
less reverie,  but  under  proper  guidance,  will  be  the 
larger  man.  A  man  may  be  on  some  sides  of  him 
great  who  cleaves  fast  to  what  he  sees,  who  never 
soars  beyond  it.  He  may  have  a  great  iinderstand- 
ing — he  may  have  fine  logical  powers  that  have  been 


VALUE    OF    TTIOUGIIT    ON    INVISIBLE    THINGS.         101 

subjected  to  rigid  and  sharp  discipline — he  may 
have  a  stern  will  and  a  vast  learning ;  but  he  is  not, 
and  cannot  be  the  greatest.  The  greatest  souls  have 
faculties  that  prompt  a  trial  of  the  eternal.  The 
greatest  minds  stretch  themselves  on  the  frame-work 
of  the  invisible.  They  have  wonder,  curiosity,  im- 
agination, a  love  of  mystery,  of  things  that  do  not  alli 
stand  out  in  sharp  outline,  but  loom  up  large — vast — 
incomprehensible — dim  ; — things  that  rise  higher  and 
sink  deeper  than  their  shallow  understandings  can 
reach.  The  man  who  shrinks  from  the  invisible, 
who  has  not  a  fancy  for  beings  and  things  that  he 
can  only  light  upon  and  see  into  a  little  way,  while 
in  their  mighty  proportions  they  stretch  away  leagues 
upon  leagues  beyond  the  farthest  verge  which  his 
mind  can  reach,  and  where  it  almost  grows  dizzy  and 
is  ready  to  topple  and  fall ;  such  a  man  is  not  the 
greatest.  Indeed  he  knows  little  of  the  greatness  of 
a  true  soul — has  entered  little  into  the  feelings  which 
wander  out  and  seek  to  rove  through  and  over  eter- 
nity. The  invisible  and  eternal  are  a  mighty  trellis 
on  which  the  soul  climbs  up  to  true  greatness,  and  it 
cannot  gain  elevation  and  breadth  and  profoundness, 
while  absorbed  in  the  temporal.  The  visible  and 
temporal  are  not  great  enough  when  cut  off  from  the 
invisible  and  eternal,  to  stretch  a  human  soul  to  its 
fullest  extent.  Put  it  on  the  very  highest  and  greatest 
of  these  and  it  collapses  somewhere, — it  is  shrivelled 


102  THOUGHTS   FOR  THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

in  some  of  its  faculties  and  powers.  It  must  go  out 
among  the  unseen  and  eternal  to  use  and  expand  all 
its  powers.  The  great  in  some  departments  may  be 
made  by  the  temporal,  but  not  the  great  all  around, 
not  the  greatest.  The  very  love  for  the  invisible — 
the  very  tendency  to  steal  off  into  it,  is  itself  a  mark 
of  greatness.  It  is  never  found  in  little  minds,  and 
minds  relatively  great  may  become  dwarfed  by  never 
requiring  or  permitting  themselves  to  contemplate 
what  lies  beyond  time  and  sense. 

Thought  directed  to  eternal  things,  gives  calmness 
to  the  mind.  We  live  among  perturbing,  agitating 
scenes.  Human  passion  is  stirred  and  often  fierce. 
We  are  liable  to  come  nnder  its  influence  and  control, 
to  lose  our  mental  balance  and  government.  We  are 
swept  away  on  the  current  of  narrow  and  petty  ques- 
tions. We  lose  the  ideas  of  the  proper  relations  of 
things.  We  get  unballasted.  Our  judgments  become 
biased  and  narrow.  We  put  great  things  for  little 
and  little  for  great.  Interests  comparatively  trivial 
swell  into  a  mighty  importance.  Now  there  is  noth- 
ing like  a  frequent  contemplation  of  invisible  and 
eternal  things  to  give  the  mind  composure  and  steadi- 
ness amid  the  peiiurbing  scenes  of  life.  The  con- 
templation of  God  has  been  known  to  bring  calm 
and  sweet  repose  to  bosoms  whence  sleep  had  fled 
for  many  nights.  All  great  themes  of  thought  are 
soothing.     It  is  little  things  oftener  than  great  that 


VALUE   OF   THOUGHT   ON   INVISIBLE   THINGS.        103 

agitate,  the  little  annoyances  of  life  more  than  even 
its  dread  convulsions  that  perturb.  There  is  some- 
thing in  all  majestic  things  that  calms.  The  great 
sea — the  quiet  heavens — a  still,  far-stretching  wilder- 
ness does  it ; — much  more  will  the  invisible  and  eter- 
nal with  their  stillness  and  grandeur  do  it.  The 
agitated  spirit  of  man  has  need  to  soothe  itself  by 
excursions  out  into  the  invisible  and  eternal. 

I  am  not,  my  friends,  supposing  that  you  can, 
neither  am  1  desiring  that  you  should,  give  yourselves 
up  to  these  thoughts.  Life  is  real  and  earnest  about 
you.  Labors,  cares  press  hard.  The  visible  encom- 
passes you — the  invisible  with  its  silence  is  afar  off. 
I  know  this.  I  would  have  you  live  your  life  right 
here  in  the  marts  of  business — not  a  man  resting — 
not  a  labor  cast  off — not  a  care  neglected.  Live  here 
and  not  in  the  wilderness,  but  live  with  your  life  ele- 
vated and  spiritualized  by  many  thoughts  of  the  in- 
visible :  live  here,  but  live  with  life's  discords  reduced 
to  harmony  by  the  silent  but  all-subduing  harmonies 
of  Eternity ! 


IX. 

THE    RESTRAINTS    OF     CHRISTIANITY. 
Take  my  yoke  upon  you. — Matt.  xi.  29. 

THE  OX  when  he  passes  under  the  yoke  loses  his 
lawless  freedtDm,  siibmits  to  labor  and  restraint ; 
so  the  man  wherL  he  passes  under  the  yoke  of  Christ 
loses  his  lawless  freedom-,  submits  to  labor  and  re- 
straint. 

From  this  passage  I  intend  to  speak  of  the  re- 
straints of  Christianity. 

It  has  restraints.  This  is  neither  to  be  ignored 
nor  denied,  but  is  to  be  admitted,  yea,  brought  for- 
ward and  insisted  upon.  One  in  coming  into  the 
Christian  kingdom,  under  the  tuition  and  rule  of 
Christ  its  Head,  does  come  under  restrictions.  There 
are  stern  negations  put  upon  many  courses  which 
others  outside  of  the  kingdom  feel  it  proper  to  pur- 
sue. And  if  we  will  look  at  the  matter  more  deeply, 
we  shall  not  find  Christianity  an  exception  to  a  gen- 
eral rule  extending  to  all  systems  and  all  things. 
Whenever  we  wish  to  do  anything  effectively  for  our- 
selves or  for  otherSj  we  must  come  under  restraint. 


THE   KESTKAINTS    OF   CimiSTIANITY.  105 

Whenever  we  wish  to  accomplish  anything  beneficent 
with  material  agents  or  living  beings,  we  must  put 
them  under  a  yoke,  bind  them  down,  subject  them  to 
wholesome  discipline.  The  waters  of  our  rivers  run- 
ning wild  will  turn  iiO  wheels,  grind  no  wheat,  weave 
no  cloth.  The  lightning  flashing  in  the  sky,  darting 
in  its  own  moody  way  from  cloud  to  cloud,  only  blasts 
and  destroys.  Both  must  be  harnessed  and  subjected 
to  rule  ere  they  will  work  and  help  man  in  his  life 
errand.  So  with  all  other  things,  so  with  men.  You 
can  do  nothing  effectively  with  them  nor  for  them  till 
you  put  them  under  the  yoke,  subject  them  to  proper 
checks.  You  cannot  sail  a  ship  over  the  sea,  you 
cannot  manage  a  factory,  or  shop,  or  school,  or  col- 
lege, or  family,  or  church,  or  nation  w^ithout  it.  It  is 
the  one  thing  which  you  must  have  when  you  pro- 
pose to  liave  organization,  to  have  men  work  together 
for  a  given  end.  So  that  when  we  say  there  are  re- 
straints in  Christianity,  we  only  say  that  in  tliis  re- 
spect it  is  h'ke  all  other  systems.  There  can  be  no 
community  among  men,  they  cannot  live  together  in 
the  same  village,  town  or  nation  without  it.  Aban- 
don it  and  you  sever  the  ties  that  bind  men  ;  each 
would  want  a  world  to  himself,  and  it  would  soon  be 
a  tenantless  world,  for  he  would  speedily  come  to  an 
end  without  it.  Man  is  the  predestined  heir  of  re- 
straint. A  wild,  lawless  freedom  is  no  condition  for 
an  intelligent,  accountable  being. 
5*  • 


106  THOUGHTS   FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

The  restraints,  however,  of  Ghristianity  are  not  so 
mucli  outward  as  inward,  not  so  iniicli  special  and 
minute  as  general.  They  are  of  the  spirit  rather  tlian 
of  tlie  letter.  Thej  do  not  line  the  whole  road  of  life 
projecting  their  sharp  points  at  every  step,  ready  to 
wound  and  chafe  us.  We  are  not  compelled  to  pass 
on  with  book  in  hand,  with  eyes  and  mind  intent  lest 
peradventure  we  should  fail  to  know  and  comply  with 
some  minute  duty.  Christianity  does  not  persecute 
us  with  its  nice  scrupulosities,  goad  us  with  little,  petty 
exactions  meeting  us  at  any  moment,  placed  all  along 
at  short  intervals  to  impress  us  with  their  presence 
and  power.  "We  come  under  no  such  petty  system 
when  we  come  under  the  Christian  rule.  It  w^ould 
be  diflScult  to  find  in  it  all  any  minute,  specific  pro- 
hibitions that  might  or  might  not  be  heeded,  and  yet 
the  man  remain  equally  good.  It  does  not  exact  tithes 
of  mint  and  cummin.  It  does  not  take  in  charge  the 
mere  outward  man  and  make  him  bow  and  bend,  turn 
hither  and  thither,  fast,  go  on  pilgrimages.  It  does 
not  meet  him  at  every  turn,  compelling  him  upon  pain 
of  forfeiture  of  its  blessings  to  do  this  outward  and 
minute  thing  and  not  to  do  that.  It  rises  far  above 
all  this.  It  leaves  it  for  other  systems  of  far  inferior 
design  or  lower  origin  to  treat  men  as  children.  It 
treats  men  as  men,  and  in  few  things  is  it  m.ore  re- 
markable than  in  its  freedom  from  all  those  restric- 


THE   KESTKAINTS    OF   CHRISTIAJflTY.  107 

tions  to  which  a  man  may  be  entirely  subject  and 
yet  be  no  better  man. 

Even  the  Jewish  system,  divine  as  it  was  in  its 
origin,  in  this  respect  imposed  a  yoke  upon  men  which 
Paul  himself  says  they  were  scarcely  able  to  bear. 
It  was  a  system  for  men  in  comparative  childhood. 
It  was  an  initial  and  not  a  final  dispensation,  the  en- 
trance, the  vestibule  to  another  and  a  better  one. 
It  had  respect  more  to  the  outward,  less  to  the  in- 
ward. It  was  ritualistic  and  ceremonial,  temporary 
not  final.  It  met  men  with  minute  directions  and 
prohibitions,  and  required  constant  watchfulness  lest 
some  of  them  should  be  unheeded.  But  the  Christian 
system  did  away  with  all  this.  It  took  men  out  from 
such  narrow  tutelage,  and  put  them  under  a  broader 
and  more  comprehensive  one.  It  advanced  them 
from  their  minority  to  their  majority.  We  are  no 
longer  subject  to  ordinances  or  prohibitions,  to  taste 
not  this,  or  handle  not  that.  We,  in  our  onward 
progress,  have  left  those  things  far  behind.  We  are 
under  a  dispensation  of  the  spirit,  not  of  the  letter, 
and  in  consequence  have  escaped  the  restraints  of  the 
mere  letter. 

The  restraints  of  Christianity  are  only  so  many,  and 
of  such  a  nature,  as  its  very  design  requires.  Know 
the  design  of  a  system  and  you  will  know  the  checks 
it  imposes.  Take  Jesuitism  for  instance — that  system 
which  is  so  tenacious  of  life,  stretching  down  over 


108  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE   CHEISTIAN    LIFE. 

the  centuries,  bruised,  pierced,  and  yet  alive,  one  of 
the  most  potent  of  all  schemes  that  man  has  ever 
devised.  Study  this  • ''  society  "  in  its  constitution 
and  laws,  pierce  to  its  great  central  idea,  compass  its 
"grand  object,  and  then  you  will  be  prepared  to  under- 
stand the  nature  of  the  restraints  it  imposes,  and  to 
see  that  without  these  its  end  could  not  be  reached, 
it  would  be  a  failure,  nay,  it  could  not  have  lived  a 
century. 

So  of  any  other  organization.  Enter  into  its  idea, 
its  design,  and  if  you  are  a  man  of  any  reach  or  com- 
pass of  mind  you  will  know  the  restraints  it  requires. 
'No  wise  man  will  ever  impose  these  for  their  own 
sake,  or  for  the  sake  of  making  his  power  felt.  They 
will  be  such  as  the  object  requires  and  no  more. 
That  object  may  be  to  make  cloth  or  cutlery,  to  sail 
a  ship  or  to  govern  an  army  or  a  nation.  So  with 
Christianity ;  its  object  will  determine  the  nature  of 
its  restrictions.  This  is  not  primarily  to  make  men 
conscious  of  the  Divine  presence  and  power,  not  to 
impress  us  with  the  idea  of  our  subjection  to  the 
Almighty,  not  to  encompass  us  everywhere  with  ideas 
of  His  greatness  ;  this  He  designs,  but  not  primarily 
and  most.  He  wishes  to  impress  us  most  forcibly 
with  His  pity  and  love,  to  bring  us  into  fellowship 
with  Him,  to  make  us  more  trustful  and  loving,  better 
in  heart  and  so  in  life.  This  is  His  design,  and  the 
restraints  He  imposes  are  in  accordance  with  it. 


THE   RESTRAINTS    OF   CHRISTIANITY.  109 

I  have  said  that  these  are  inward  rather  than  out- 
ward, of  the  soul  rather  than  the  body  ;  not  outward, 
not  of  the  body  at  all,  only  as  these  act  upon  the  soul 
directly  or  indirectly.  Christianity  does  its  work 
first  and  most  on  the  heart,  and  on  the  heart  it  first 
lays  its  restraints.  It  prohibits  nothing  good,  puts  no 
ban  upon  anything  that  is  kind  and  tender  and  beau- 
tiful, anything  adapted  to  bless  man  or  to  glorify 
God,  anything  that  tends  to  bring  us  into  harmony 
with  the  great  sum  of  things.  It  gives  the  freest 
scope  to  all  such  tendencies  within  men.  It  only 
lays  its  hand  upon  that  within  us  which  isolates  and 
alienates  us  from  our  fellows  and  from  God,  upon 
selfishness,  upon  unhallowed  passion  in  any  of  its 
forms. 

It  has  been  asked  and  will  be  asked  again,  what 
specific  things  does  Christianity  prohibit  ?  What  may 
one  do  and  what  may  he  not  do  under  this  system  ? 
What  amusements  may  a  Christian  engage  in,  may  he 
go  to  the  ball  or  the  drama,  may  he  play  at  this  or 
that,  may  he  go  here  or  there  ?  Will  he  be  within 
the  circle  of  the  Gospel  and  obeying  its  principles 
when  he  is  engaging  in  this  or  that  business  ?  What 
specific  restraints  on  the  life  in  all  directions  does  it 
impose?  We  sometimes  wish  that  we  could  hear 
what  specific  outvrard  things  we  may  and  may  not 
do.  But  this  is  to  lose  sight  of  the  very  object  of 
Christianity.     This  is  to  turn  the  hand  back  on  the 


110  THOUGHTS   FOK   THE   CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

dial-plate  of  time,  to  journey  back  into  the  childhood 
of  the  race  and  the  world.  The  prime  object  of 
Christianity  is  not  to  keep  ns  away  from  the  ball,  or 
the  opera,  or  the  billiard-table  ;  it  is  not  to  tell  ns  how 
large  and  how  fine  houses  we  may  bnild,  nor  how 
richly  we  may  furnish  them  ;  not  how  costly  churches 
we  may  rear,  nor  how  fine  and  expensive  clothing  we 
may  put  on,  nor  how  much  money  we  shall  spend. 
Its  object  is  deeper  than  that.  Its  design  is  to  bring 
us  into  harmony  with  God,  and  loving  fellowship  with 
our  fellow-men,  it  is  to  make  us  think  less  of  our- 
selves and  more  of  others,  to  seek  their  good  ;  it  is  in 
a  word  to  create  within  us  a  clean  heart  and  to  renew 
within  us  a  right  spirit.  It  settles  the  outward  ques- 
tions by  a  new  ordering  of  the  inward.  It  does  not 
tell  a  man  what  he  shall  not  do  outwardly,  but  what 
he  shall  not  do  inwardly.  He  shall  not  be  set  upon 
his  own  things.  All  the  settlement  we  can  give  of 
outward  things  from  the  Christian  system  is  a  read- 
justment of  the  heart,  a  new  heart  with  its  new  and 
clear  vision  to  see  what  is  fitting.  We  never  can 
settle  what  a  Christian  can  and  what  he  cannot  do, 
where  he  can  and  cannot  go,  how  much  money  he 
may  and  may  not  spend.  This  is  only  to  enter  upon 
a  road  that  has  no  end,  it  is  only  to  indulge  in  a  fret- 
ting scrupulosity  that  profits  nothing. 

There  is  no  rule  that  can  be  rigidly  fixed  for  all. 
One  man  in  the  full  adoption  of  a  Christian  spirit 


THE   RESTRAINTS    OF    CHRISTIANITY.  Ill 

and  principles  can  do  what  another  cannot  do.  Let 
every  man  be  well  persuaded  in  his  own  mind,  seeing 
first  and  most  that  he  has  the  mind  of  Christ.  Let 
a  man  be  unselfish,  love  God,  love  men,  and  he  will 
not  go  far  amiss,  he  will  have  eyes  to  see  the  right 
thing  to  be  done  and  the  heart  to  do  it.  We  might 
say  with  one  of  the  ancients  ;  "  Let  a  man  love  God 
and  do  what  he  has  a  mind  to." 

I  am  not  saying  that  Christianity  has  no  outward 
restraints,  that  there  are  not  specific  things  which  a 
Christian  cannot  do,  specific  places  which  he  cannot 
visit.  There  is  a  whale  circle  of  outward  things  which 
a  Christian  cannot  do,  but  then  I  say  that  the  spirit 
which  Christianity  begets  must  determine  what  it  is, 
and  the  Bible  leaves  it  to  determine.  The  Christian 
spirit  can  settle  it  most  wisely  and  safely,  and  when 
the  restraints  are  binding,  there  is  the  spirit  that 
makes  them  easy. 

*'  My  yoke,"  says  the  Saviour,  "  is  easy."  It  is 
so  to  those  who  have  the  spirit  of  Christ  and  to  those 
alone.  To  all  beside  it  is  the  heaviest  burden.  It  is 
utterly  impossible  to  tell  what  particular  outward 
thing  will  be  easy  to  one  till  you  know  his  prevail- 
ing temper  and  spirit.  The  restraints  which  are  easy 
to  one  are  oppressive  to  another.  Place  a  young  man 
of  fitful  or  wayward  temper  or  dissolute  habits  in  a 
well-ordered  family  and  he  will  feel  restless  and  un- 
easy.    To  the  obedient  child  it  is  a  joy  to  be  there. 


112  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

Take  a  man  of  selfish,  sinful  heart,  and  impose  upon 
him  the  outward  limitations  of  the  Christian,  con- 
strain him  to  pray,  to  read  the  Bible,  to  be  found  in 
the  place  of  prayer,  in  the  Sanctuary,  to  talk,  to  act 
as  a  Christian,  and  you  oppress  him.  He  must  have 
the  spirit  which  eugenders  and  sustains  these  outward 
doings  or  he  is  restless.  Hence  when  we  take  the 
yoke  of  Christ  we  are  at  the  same  time  to  learn  of 
Him,  we  are  to  drink  in  of  His  spirit,  and  the  new  spirit 
of  the  Master  will  make  the  restraints  of  the  Master 
easy  and  His  burden  light.  The  inward  coming  first 
will  assume  all  the  outward  restrictions  with  alacrity. 
They  will  be  adapted  to  it.  It  will  not  be  the  world- 
ling with  the  Christian's  restraints,  but  the  Christian 
with  his  own,  the  Christian  spirit  responsive  to  the 
Bible  in  all  that  it  negatives  and  in  all  that  it  enjoins. 
And  thus  instead  of  being  oppressed  by  the  limitations 
of  the  Christian,  he  will  in  fact  feel  that  they  consti- 
tute in  part  his  freedom. 

Compel  the  man  with  the  spirit  of  Christ  to  do 
what  the  man  without  that  spirit  does  by  the  force  of 
the  law  that  is  within  him,  and  you  put  him  in  bond- 
age quite  as  much  as  you  would  the  depraved  man 
should  you  constrain  him  to  do  what  belongs  to  the 
Christian.  There  is  a  law  in  each  enforcing  him  to 
do  and  not  to  do  what  he  does.  The  inward  spirit 
of  a  Christian  develops  itself  spontaneously,  in  its  own 
way,  as  does  the  spirit  of  the  godless  man.     Each  is 


THE   RESTRAINTS    OF    CHRISTIANITY.  113 

known  by  his  fruit,  and  it  constitutes  the  freedon;i  of 
the  Christian  to  do  what  he  does  as  much  as  it  con- 
stitutes the  freedom  of  the  worldling  to  do  what  he 
does.  The  one  has  the  freedom  wherewith  Christ 
maketh  His  disciples  free,  and  the  other  has  the 
freedom  wherewith  the  world  maketh  its  children  free. 
Each  does  what  the  spirit  prompts.  So  that  the 
Christian  as  he  advances  in  the  knowledge  of  Chris- 
tianity may  be  coming  more  and  more  under  the  con- 
trol of  a  delicate  and  susceptible  conscience,  a  con- 
science acutely  sensitive  to  the  right  and  peremptory 
in  its  command  to  heed  it ;  and  at  the  same  time  may 
be  coming  more  and  more  into  the  true  freedom  of  an 
intelligent  being.  And  it  is  when  conscience  dis- 
criminates perfectly  between  right  and  wrong,  and 
when  the  soul  is  almost  unconsciously  obedient  to  her 
voice,  that  we  shall  become  perfectly  free,  that  we 
shall  have  the  freedom  of  law  and  not  of  mere  wilful- 
ness. Looked  at  aright  it  is  not  till  we  are  spontane- 
ously subject  to  all  the  restraints  of  Christianity,  that 
we  shall  enjoy  the  full  liberty  of  Christianity. 

The  one  practical  lesson  that  I  w^ould  have  you 
draw  is, — not  to  look  first  and  most  at  the  restraints 
of  religion.  You  cannot  take  up  these  first  without 
bondage.  Strive  to  get  into  the  spirit  of  religion. 
Seek  not  to  clothe  yourself  with  the  restraints  of  a 
child  until  you  get  the  spirit  of  a  child.  You 
cannot  make  a  ladder  of  your  self-denials  to  climb 


114:  THOUGHTS   FOE   THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

up  to  Christ.  You  must  come  to  Him  first,  you 
must  learn  of  Him,  imbibe  His  spirit,  and  as  fast 
as  you  do  this  and  only  so  fast  can  you  sincerely  and 
freely  assume  its  restraints.  Let  tbe  mind  of  Christ 
be  in  you  first,  and  the  yoke  of  Christ  you  will  take 
through  love.  Take  the  yoke  and  strive  thus  to  work 
yourself  into  the  mind  of  Christ,  and  it  is  like  draw- 
ing water  from  dry  wells. 


X. 

CONSTANT    AND    ABOUNDING    WORK    FOR    GOD. 

Always  abounding  in  the  worlc  of  the  Lord. — 1  Coe.  xv.  58. 

IT  is  in  view  of  the  fact  of  the  glorious  resurrection 
of  the  just,  their  victory  over  death  and  the  grave, 
that  the  apostle  exhorts  them  to  be  "  steadfast,  un- 
niovable,  always  abounding  in  the  work  of  the 
Lord." 

He  would  transport  them  to  that  era  in  their  exist- 
ence, when  Christ  shall  have  eternally  delivered  them 
from  all  the  ills  of  life  and  sin,  and  shall  have  brought 
them  to  their  high  and  glorious  destiny ;  and  from 
thence  he  would  bring  a  motive  that  should  bear 
powerfully  upon  the  present.  Christ  will  cause  you 
to  triumph  over  all  your  enemies,  therefore  serve 
Christ  constantly  and  faithfully  here ;  ^"  always 
abound  in  the  work  of  the  Lord."  This  is  a  legiti- 
mate and  forcible  argument,  and  will  have  weight 
with  all  that  love  and  trust  Christ.  It  is  an  aj)peal 
to  gratitude  and  indeed  to  all  that  is  highest  and 
strongest  within  us.  As  we  anticipate  so  much  from 
Christ,  let  us  work  for  him  here.  "  Always  abound- 
ing in  the  work  of  the  Lord." 


116  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

There  are  three  thoughts  here  upon  which  we  will 
dwell.  Our  work  must  be  the  work  of  the  Lord. 
We  are  to  abound  in  it.     We  are  to  be  constant  in  it. 

Oui's  must  be  the  work  of  the  Lord — CliHst's 
workj  not  our  own  :  work  undertaken  on  His  account 
— because  he  commands  it :  work  originating  in  and 
from  Him,  and  that  would  have  no  existence  but  for 
Him.  He  is  to  be  its  centre  and  end — its  Alpha  and 
Omega.  The  work  of  the  Lord — that  which  we  do 
for  and  under  Him — may  not  differ  specifically  in  its 
outward  form  from  other  kind  of  work.  He  who 
works  for  the  Lord,  and  he  who  woi-ks  without  any 
reference  to  Him,  may  do  the  same  outward  things ; 
just  as  a  man  who  works  to  gratify  his  noblest  hu- 
man affections  may  do  the  same  outward  things  with 
one  who  toils  to  gratify  his  meanest  vices. 

There  are  some  wise,  but  many  foolish  things 
said  about  work  in  our  day.  We  often  hear  about 
work  as  though  it  were  a  good  in  and  of  itself,  and 
as  though  one  deserved  commendation  simply  because 
he  worko^.  We  mean  to  commend  men  and  women 
when  we  call  them  great  workers.  I  do  not  intend 
to  deny  that  work  is  a  respectable  thing  in  itself,  and 
that  he  is  in  a  hopeful  state  who  sets  himself  to  do  it 
with  a  right  good  will.  The  idle  man  is  the  only  ab- 
solutely hopeless  man.  Get  a  man  fairly  at  work 
with  might  and  main,  lustily  bent  on  doing  some- 
thing, and  he  vindicates,  after  a  sort,  his  right  to  be, 


CONSTANT   AND    ABOUNDING    WORK    FOR   GOD.       117 

and  at  least  earns  his  bed  and  board  in  the  world 
where  he  is.  But  then  after  all,  we  do  not  and  con- 
not  respect  a  simple  drudge, — one  who  toils  with  no 
aim  or  an  ignoble  one.  We  cannot  respect  a  woman 
who  toils  by  day  or  night  amid  exhaustion  and  sleep- 
lessness simply  to  put  finery  upon  herself  or  her  chil- 
dren, l^either  can  we  esteem  the  man  very  highly 
who  struggles  hard,  whether  it  be  over  his  books  or 
in  the  mine,  or  the  store,  or  shop,  simply  to  elevate 
himself — to  make  himself  thought  of  and  talked  of — 
the  wonder  of  a  day.  We  must  know  the  motive  of  a 
worker  before  we  can  give  him  our  highest  respect. 
It  must  be  more  or  less  elevated  to  command  much 
of  our  admiration.  Just  in  proportion  as  it  is  noble 
and  true  does  the  approval  of  all  right-minded  per- 
sons rest  upon  him. 

Now  the  work  of  the  Lord  includes  all  work  that 
is  right  and  fitting  in  our  circumstances  and  position. 
There  have  been  those,  and  there  are  those  still,  who 
separate  between  work  done  for  Christ  and  other 
work  which  our  human  affections  require.  There 
were  those  in  Christ's  day  who  thought  they  could 
alienate  the  money  which  a  father's  or  a  mother's 
wants  demanded,  and  appropriate  it  justly  to  strictly 
religious  uses.  They  only  had  to  pronounce  over  it 
that  magic  word  "  Corban^^ — this  is  consecrated  to 
the  temple  service,  and  behold  !  a  needy  fatlier  and 
mother  might  go  and  starve,  for  all  that  the  son  could 


118  THOUGHTS   FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN    LIFE, 

be  called  upon  to  do  for  them.  Eeligion  was  set  up 
in  hostility  to  life,  one's  devotion  was  a  substitute  for 
the  natural  aflfections.  Offerings  to  the  temple  ex- 
empted one  from  all  obligations  to  kindred  and 
friends.  Piety  and  the  indulgence  of  humane  and 
filial  feelings  might  be  in  opposition.  This  has  been 
the  idea  of  some,  and  may  be  to  a  certain  extent  prev- 
alent still.  But  this  idea  Christ  did  and  does  frow^n 
upon.  No  son  in  His  day  could  play  off  his  devotion 
against  his  filial  obligation,  and  no  one  can  in  our  day 
set  up  his  piety  in  opposition  to  his  humble,  daily 
duties.  'No  mother  can  neglect  her  children  under 
the  plea  that  she  is  serving  her  God.  No  wife  can 
justly  leave  her  house  untidy  and  her  husband  to 
neglect,  under  the  plea  that  she  is  ministering  to 
others  without.  In  no  department  are  we  to  set  our 
daily  duties  in  hostility  to  our  piety,  or  our  piety  in 
hostility  to  these. 

The  fact  is,  our  religion,  when  rightly  understood, 
embraces  all  duty.  "We  do  the  work  of  the  Lord,  and 
we  do  all  work  in  that.  The  work  of  the  Lord  leaves 
out  no  task  of  life,  humble  or  elevated,  that  is  de- 
volved upon  us.  It  simply  brings  all  duty  to  Christ, 
— grafts  it  into  Him, — causes  it  to  depend  upon  Him, 
— to  derive  all  its  supports  from  Him.  No  work  that 
a  man  is  called  upon  to  do  at  all,  need  or  should  lie 
outside  of  his  religion.  There  is  none  that  his  love 
for  Christ  will  not  prompt,  and  his  work  for  Christ 


I 


CONSTANT  AND  ABOUNDING  WOEK  FOR  GOD.   119 

will  not  include.  So  that  when  we  speak  of  doing 
the  work  of  the  Lord,  we  are  not  to  be  understood  as 
separating  common  life  and  common  work  from  it. 
Not  at  all.  ISTothing  has  been  more  unfortunate  in 
the  past  history  of  the  Church  than  this,  and  nothing 
could  be  more  unfortunate  now.  We  believe  when 
we  are  doing  the  work  of  the  Lord  most  and  best,  we 
are  doing  common,  unnoticed  work  best.  "Working 
for  the  Lord  would  not  start  us  off  on  remote  pil- 
grimages, or  part  us  from  common  and  lowly  pursuits. 
It  would  rather  elevate  these,  and  make  all  life  and 
all  toil  holy.  The  work  of  the  Lord  is  very  much 
putting  the  Lord  into  our  work.  It  is  not  a  new 
kind  of  work  perhaps,  but  a  new  kind  of  aim  and  im- 
pulse. 

In  this  work  of  the  Lord  we  are  to  abound.  The 
same  considerations  that  should  make  us  engage  in 
it,  should  make  us  abound  in  it.  If  it  is  a  good  thing 
to  work  for  Him  at  all,  it  is  a  good  thing  to  work  for 
Him  efficiently  and  fully. 

Happiness  has  been  said  to  be  "  the  employment 
of  our  faculties  : "  if  we  will  make  the  addition  of  the 
Avord  rights  and  say  it  is  the  right  employment  of 
tliem,  we  shall  not  probably  come  far  from  a  correct 
definition  of  it,  so  far  as  it  is  susceptible  of  definition 
in  mere  words  at  all.  The  work  of  the  Loj'd  is  right 
work — it  is  work  that  will  enlist  all  the  powers  that 
any  man  has  or  can  have.     There  is  no  sui-plus  facuh 


120  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

ty  in  any  man  which  he  must  leave  outside,  when  he 
comes  to  engage  in  the  work  of  the  Lord.  There  is 
no  power  which  it  will  not  enlist  and  absorb  in  some 
one  of  its  many  branches.  It  is  diversified  work,  not 
monotonous.  It  solicits  and  will  employ  men  of  all 
gifts  and  all  attainments,  and  will  tax  and  exhaust  all 
and  more  than  all  that  the  mightiest  can  bring  to  it. 
So  that  if  we  have  a  right  work  that  will  absorb  all 
the  powers  of  every  kind,  and  abound  in  such  a 
work,  we  are  adopting  the  course  which  an  intelli- 
gent perception  of  our  own  happiness  will  require. 
Does  any  one  ask  sighingly,  "  Oh  !  where  shall  bliss 
be  found  ? "  we  answer  here^  if  anywhere — as  much 
of  it  as  our  present  state  will  permit,  and  that  too  of 
the  same  kind  that  the  redeemed  in  heaven  enjoy. 
It  is  abounding  in  the  work  of  the  Lord  there  that 
makes  heaven  very  much  what  it  is,  if  indeed  we  can 
use  the  term  work  at  all  with  reference  to  those  who 
have  passed  into  that  world. 

Abounding  in  the  w^ork  of  the  Lord  is  just  what 
the  character  of  Christ — our  relations  to  Him  and  His 
to  us — just  what  he  has  done  and  is  doing  and  will 
do  for  us,  would  prompt  us  to  do.  Work  for  the  Lord 
is  the  hardest  of  all  work,  when  it  is  done  without  the 
principles  and  affections  that  prompt  it.  The  mere 
name  of  Christ  will  not  engage  men  in  abmidant 
works  for  Him.  There  must  be  a  sight  of  Christ,  of 
what  He  is  and  where,  of  what  He  has  done  for  us, 


CONSTANT   AND   ABOUNDING   WOKK   FOR   GOD.       121 

and  what  he  is  doing,  and  what  he  is  purposing  yet 
to  do,  in  order  to  enlist  all  that  we  are  and  can  be  in 
work  for  Him.  There  must  be  a  realization  of  His 
benefits  conferred,  and  to  be  conferred,  before  we 
shall  cry,  "  "What  shall  we  render  unto  the  Lord  for 
them  all  ?  "  There  will  be  no  abounding  in  the  work 
of  the  Lord,  till  the  love  of  the  Lord  shines  out  con- 
spicuously before  us.  What  Christ  is  and  does  must 
prompt  what  we  should  be  and  do.  Abounding  love 
and  benefits  will  beget  abounding  works.  AVe  shall 
do  much  when  we  love  much,  and  we  shall  love  much 
only  when  we  see  much  of  Christ — much  of  His  heart 
and  His  work.  The  appeal  throughout  the  Bible 
is  Christ's  love,  Christ's  doings,  Christ's  sufierings ; 
when  these  come  home  to  us  as  revealed  in  the  past, 
when  the  unfoldings  of  the  future  open  to  us  what 
Christ  will  do  for  us,  then  we  have  a  solid  basis  on 
which  we  shall  stand,  and  abounding  impulses  to 
abounding  works.  "We  must  love  much  to  do  much. 
Always  abounding  in  the  work  of  the  Lord.  It 
is  not  to  be  a  work  which  we  shall  do,  or  in 
which  we  shall  abound  fitfully  and  at  intervals ; 
now  taking  it  up  and  prosecuting  it  with  vigor, 
and  then  laying  it  down  as  if  weary  of  it.  We  are 
always  to  abound  in  it.  The  work  is  to  be  prolific 
and  constant.  It  is  to  be  here — there — everywhere — 
now  and  hereafter — continued  till  life  shall- end.  It 
may  strike  us  as  incompatible  with  human  weakness 
6 


122  THOUGHTS   FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

and  slnggislmcss.  It  may  be  thought  and  said  even, 
that  abounding  woi'k  in  anything  exhausts,  and  can 
hardly  be  kept  up,  year  in  and  year  out.  But  we  are 
not  to  forget  that  this  work  is  not  incompatible  with 
due  refreshments  and  even  recreations.  The  Saviour, 
when  He  was  upon  the  earth,  and  He  and  his  disciples 
were  weary  with  constant  toil,  took  them  aside  that 
He  and  they  might  rest.  Rest,  to  the  end  that  we 
may  labor  the  more,  is  not  only  permitted,  but  re- 
quired. No  man  is  allowed  to  wear  out  before  his 
time,  any  more  than  he  is  to  rust  out,  and  the  wear- 
ing out  and  the  rusting  out  are  not  likely  to  be  in  work- 
ing for  the  Lord.  Refreshment,  that  we  may  abound 
in  the  work  of  the  Lord,  may  be  as  much  a  duty  as 
acting  that  we  may  abound  in  it.  Constancy  in  work 
is  j)erfectly  compatible  with  intervals  of  repose. 

''  Always  abounding  in  the  work  of  the  Lord." 
Work  for  the  Lord,  enlisting  as  it  will  so  many  and  so 
much  of  our  powers,  has  a  tendency  to  ]3erpetuate  it- 
self, just  as  all  work  has.  If  there  is  something  con- 
genial with  the  human  heart  in  rest — something  which 
tends  to  perpetuate  it,  so  is  there  more  also  congenial 
with  work,  and  something  which  tends  to  perpetuate, 
it.  We  work  a  little  heartily  in  any  sphere  of  right 
effort,  and  we  wish  to  work  more,  to  go  on,  abounding 
in  work.  We  work  a  little  for  Christ,  and  that  little, 
if  we  will*feed  it,  and  do  not  allow  ourselves  to  lose  th< 
impulse  it  gives  us,  will  press  us  on  to  more  and  more,( 


CONSTANT   AND    ABOUNDING   WORK   FOR   GOD.       123 

SO  that  we  shall  come  into  a  strict  firlfilment  of  the 
requisition  of  our  text,  and  "  always  abound  in  the 
work  of  the  Lord." 

The  strong  motive  which  the  apostle  urges,  is  one 
needed  by  us  all.  "  Abounding  in  the  work  of  the 
Lord,  forasmuch  as  ye  know  that  your  labor  is  not  in 
vain  in  the  Lord." 

This  consideration  is  ever  needed  to  prompt  us  to 
do  anything.  "We  may  play  for  the  mere  sake  of 
play.  The  distinction  between  work  and  play  is  this. 
We  work  for  something  beyond — ^for  an  end.  We 
play  for  play's  sake,  without  an  end.  Now  no  one 
will  ever  toil  except  with  the  hope  of  gaining  some- 
thing. We  need  the  promptings  of  hope — the  assur- 
ance of  accomplishment.  Now  our  exliortation  is : 
"  Abound  always  in  the  work  of  the  Lord — forasmuch 
as  your  labor  is  not  in  vain  in  the  Lord." 

Not  in  vain.  It  will  tell.  It  will  not  fall  to  the 
ground,  and  come  to  nought.  All  work  for  the  Lord 
is  sure  work.  It  is  done  in  love,  with  His  strength, 
and  nothing  on  the  large  scale  is  so  sure  of  success. 
Other  kinds  of  work  may  fail,  this  never.  The  work 
of  the  Lord  is  right,  good  ;  it  engages  our  best  powers, 
and  it  will  bring  its  own  blessed  harvest  at  the  end. 


XL 

SPIRITUAL    LABOR— ITS    INCENTIVE    AND    REWARD. 

Forasmuch  as  ye  Tcnow  that  your  labor  is  not  in  vain  in  the  Lord. 
1  CoE.  XV.  58. 

THIS  is  a  part  of  tlie  concluding  verse  of  that 
sublime  chapter  of  Paul's  Epistle  to  the  Corin- 
thians, where  he  declares  the  doctrine  of  the  Resur- 
rection, and  utters  the  triumphant  challenge,  "  O 
Death,  where  is  thy  sting  ?  O  Grave,  where  is  thy 
victory  ? "  In  view  of  the  final  victory  over  death 
and  the  grave,  he  exhorts  his  brethren  to  be  "  stead- 
fast, unmovable,  always  abounding  in  the  work  of 
the  Lord." 

There  must  be  steadfastness  of  feeling  and  purpose. 
An  unstable  heart  will  produce  an  indifferent  life. 
The  work  of  the  world  is  done  by  the  steadfast  men 
of  the  world.  Given  a  movable  spirit,  and  you  will 
have  a  wildly  impulsive,  never  a  steadily  operative, 
and  ever  progressive  life.  Stand  and  work,  rooted  in 
confidence  and  feeling.     Abound  in  work. 

But  work  must  have  a  motive,  an  incitement ;  and 


SPIRITUAL   LABOR ITS   INCENTH^E    AND   REWARD.     125 

it  gains  it  in  the  text.  '*  Forasmuch  as  ye  know  that 
your  labor  is  not  in  vain  in  the  Lord."  Work,  even 
for  God,  does  not  lose  its  character  as  work — does  not 
pass  into  play.  It  is  not  the  scene  nor  the  hour  for 
that ;  it  will  do  that  all  in  good  time,  on  a  higher 
stage,  in  another  clime.  But  here  it  is  worh^  under- 
taken with  a  will — prompted  indeed  by  the  heart,  but 
prosecuted  with  more  or  less  of  struggle,  and  there- 
fore needing  a  stimulus  outside  of  itself,  in  a  goal 
with  its  elevating  rewards  more  or  less  conspicuous 
in  the  distance.  Men  will  be  driven  out  of  idleness 
into  work,  by  the  assurance  that  work  will  tell,  and 
idleness  will  not.  Men  will  not  work  either  for 
another  or  themselves  without  due  encouragement. 
Boys  will  sport  all  day,  and  gain  nothing  but  weari- 
ness of  limb,  but  men  will  not  work  unless  they  see 
solid  attainment  to  be  secured  in  the  end.  Even 
money  will  not  induce  men  to  toil  if  no  real  accom- 
plishment comes  of  it.  A  company  of  the  richest 
men  of  Springfield  cannot  go  into  Ferry  street,  and 
hire  twenty  of  the  most  ignorant  Irishmen  to  go  down 
and  bale  the  Connecticut  river  dry,  or  to  carry  stones 
from  one  side  of  the  street  to  tlie  other,  and  then  carry 
them  back  again.  All  men— the  most  venal  men, 
want  to  see  together  with  their  wages  actual  progress 
and  attainment.  If  they  carr}?-  bricks  and  mortar  up 
a  ladder  for  a  dollar  a  day,  they  want  to  see  the 
building  growing  higher,  or  their  dollar  ceases  to  have 


126  THOUGHTS   FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

attractions  for  tliem.  It  will  not  buy  good,  nourish- 
ing bread  for  tliem.  Mere  money  will  keep  no  man 
at  work,  tliough  it  be  paid  liberally  and  punctually. 
If  you  think  it  will,  try  your  hand,  if  you  can  afford 
it,  on  the  first  group  of  hungry  workmen  you  meet  on 
the  morrow.  Neither  is  work  a  thing  of  simple  com- 
mand. I  mean  you  cannot  keep  men  and  get  work 
out  of  them  by  authority  alone.  The  sternest  over- 
seer of  a  slave-gang  would  find  his  gang  in  mutiny 
if  he  were  to  require  them  to  work  for  work's  sake, 
at  something  where  no  results  followed.  Even  they 
must  see  or  believe  in  results,  or  their  hearts  and  limbs 
will  not  sustain  them.  Beasts,  not  men,  work  under 
the  lash  simply.  Men  must  see  what  they  work  on 
going  forward,  the  building  ascending,  the  web 
lengthening,  the  rough  material  assuming  shape,  the 
picture  growing  in  beauty.  God  in  Heaven  has  not 
authority  enough  to  hold  the  angels  at  work,  if  He 
were  to  command  them  to  keep  transplanting  the 
trees  that  border  the  River  of  Life  from  one  side  to 
the  other.  There  would  be  rebellion  there,  and  no 
one  w^ould  blame  the  rebels.  Mere  command,  having 
no  drift,  terminating  in  nothing,  cannot  keep  men  or 
angels  at  work. 

We  may  properly  and  justly  be  summoned  to 
work  when  the  results  are  not  apparent  or  immediate. 
All  life  is  full  of  such  work.  But  then  wo  must  be- 
lieve that  our  work  will  ultimately  or  somewhere 


SPIRITUAL   LABOR ITS    INCENTIVE   AND   REWARD.     127 

effect  something.  We  cannot  be  hired — we  cannot 
be  commanded  to  work  for  nought.  I^o  man  can  do 
it  and  be  a  man.  Hence  when  God  summons  us  to 
work  even  for  Him,  He  does  not  put  his  authority 
alone  right  over  against  our  sluggishness,  and  open  its 
shotted  artillery  upon  us,  and  bombard  our  idleness 
out  of  us.  No.  He  tells  us  to  go  to  work  under  the 
assm-ance  that  our  labor  shall  be  productive.  '^  For- 
asmuch as  ye  know  that  your  labor  is  not  in  vain  in 
the  Lord." 

Two  thoughts  will  occupy  our  attention,  lying 
in  the  text.  Firsts  the  condition  of  the  labor — it 
must  be  labor  in  the  Lord.  Secondly^  the  issue  of  it 
— it  shall  not  be  in  vain. 

Our  labor  must  be  done  in  the  Lord.  It  must  not 
be  bald,  disconnected,  merely  individual  labor — 
springing  from  the  will  of  the  laborer,  and  prosecuted 
by  him  apart  and  alone — with  no  aim  out  of  himself 
— with  no  connections,  no  inspirations  from  on  high 
— no  dependence  on  divine  help — with  no  lookings 
for  divine  approval.  Taken  on  the  low  plane  of  the 
simply  natural  life,  we  see  that  a  man  cannot  do 
much  of  himself,  apart  from  the  teachings  of  the 
past, — sundered  from  the  associations  of  the  present, 
and  the  hopes  of  the  future.  Every  man  works  with 
six  thousand  crowded  years  at  his  back.  The  lone- 
liest farmer  on  the  remote  hillside  or  most  retired 
valley,  works  with  tools  that  the  first  artisan  in  iron 


128  THOUGHTS   FOK   THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

helped  to  fashion.  The  ghosts  of  multitudes  of  inven- 
tors encamp  around  him  as  he  toils,  and  he  feels  the 
inspiration  of  the  wife  and  helpless  babes  in  the  cot- 
tage whose  smoke  curls  perpetually  in  his  sight.  We, 
all  of  us,  do  our  work,  not  apart,  but  in  connections, 
amid  associations  seen  or  unseen,  near  or  remote. 
We  do  nothing  really  alone.  Our  work  would  be 
useless  if  it  were  attempted  in  stern  isolation  from 
our  fellows.  To  be  effective,  it  must  be  done  in  com- 
pany. It  is  really  we  and  all  the  race  combined,  not 
we  alone,  that  can  do  anything,  and  that  too  if  our 
work  be  merely  natural  work — if  it  be  planting,  or 
hoeing,  or  reaping,  or  weaving,  or  doing  any  material 
tasks  ;  and  if  we  find  that  on  the  lowest  plane  of  life 
we  do  not  work  apart,  neither  can  we  claim  so  to 
work  on  the  higher  plane  of  thought,  of  feeling,  of 
spiritual  activity.  The  fact  is,  no  man  was  made  to 
work  alone — apart  from  his  fellows,  or  what  is  more — 
apart  from  God.  As  we  really  and  unconsciously  "  live 
and  move  and  have  our  being"  in  Him,  so  were  we 
designed  to  act  consciously  and  joyfully  in  Him,  under 
His  inspiration  earnestly  sought,  looking  to  Him  for 
guidance,  aid  and  approval.  A  man  had  better  at- 
tempt to  shut  the  air  from  his  lungs  and  still  breathe, 
and  do  the  work  of  life,  than  undertake  to  do  the  work 
devolved  upon  him  as  a  creature  of  God,  sundered 
from  Him,  His  direction,  help  and  approval.  All 
our  work  is  to  be  work  in  the  Lord,  not  out  of  and 


i 


SPIRITUAL    LABOR ITS    INCENTIVE    AND    REWARD.     129 

apart  from  Him.  Work  out  of  God,  if  it  were  pos- 
sible, would  be  vain — attempted  to  be  done  out  of 
Him,  it  is  the  rankest  folly.  A  soul  working  out  of 
God  is  a  soul  out  of  its  proper  connections  ;  it  revolves 
like  a  wheel  disconnected  from  its  fellows,  not  accom- 
plishing the  work  of  a  true  soul.  It  is  no  business 
of  any  man  to  ask,  "What  can  I  do  alone  ?  but  What 
can  I  do  with  God  with  me,  in  me,  and  over  me,  and 
Christ  strengthening  me  ?  Not,  What  goal  can  I  reach 
by  the  force  of  my  own  will  ?  but.  What  goal  can  1 
win  with  Christ  in  me,  the  spring  of  my  life  and  my 
hope  of  glory  ? 

It  is  labor  in  the  Lord  that  comes  out  right,  as  it 
is  such  labor  that  starts  right.  A  good  start  indicates 
good  progress,  and  a  good  end;  and  it  is  labor  in  the 
Lord,  undertaken  in  simple  reliance  on  Him,  that  be- 
gins right.  If  a  man  attempts  any  work  consciously, 
voluntarily,  on  which  he  can  ask  no  Divine  blessing  ; 
a  work  terminating  in  an  hour  or  stretching  through 
a  series  of  years,  perhaps  through  life,  on  which  he 
can  invoke  no  Divine  inspection  ;  a  work  which  he 
can  more  glibly  undertake  and  prosecute  in  forget- 
fulness  of  God  than  in  remembrance  of  Him,  then  he 
must  take  his  chance  of  an  outward,  tangible  success. 
He  may  succeed  in  doing  the  thing  that  he  selfishly 
and  out  of  God  undertakes — he  may  grasp  his  gold, 
or  his  honors,  or  his  pleasures.  But  his  very  success 
is  his  fLiilure.  His  labor,  seemingly  crowned  with 
6* 


130  THOUGHTS   FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

laurels,  is  in  vain,  because  it  is  not  labor  that  he  has 
done  and  loved  to  do  in  the  Lord — enwrapped  in  a 
Divine  atmosphere,  penetrated  with  a  Divine  life,  and 
cheered  by  the  Divine  smile.  It  is  failure  all,  vain 
all,  I  care  not  how  marked  and  large  the  visible  re- 
sults. ''  Forasmuch  as  ye  know  that  your  labor  is 
not  in  vain  in  the  Lord." 

I  have  said  that  all  labor  out  of  the  Lord,  in  for- 
getfulness  of  Him,  out  of  fellowship  with  Him,  on 
which  His  blessing  is  not  sought,  not  done  in  simple 
reliance  on  Him,  is  vain.  I  now  add  that  all  labor  in 
the  Lord  is  not  and  cannot  be  in  vain.  It  must  and 
will  accomplish,  not  possibly  our  immediate  and  short- 
sighted purpose,  but  something  as  good,  probably 
vastly  better  and  farther-reaching.  The  peculiarity 
of  the  work  that  we  do  in  the  Lord  is,  perhaps,  that 
we  do  not  and  cannot  know  what  specifically  it  will 
accomplish,  whereunto  it  will  grow.  It  is  a  work  of 
faith  as  well  as  of  love,  it  is  committed  to  His  hands, 
given  over  to  His  keeping,  sown  as  a  seed,  in  the 
great  seed-field  of  God.  It  is  cast  in  as  a  contribution 
to  His  treasury — it  is  added  as  a  unit  to  the  sum 
total  of  agencies  by  which  He  is  working.  It  may 
be  a  humble  work — a  kind  word  spoken  for  Him — a 
generous  deed  done  with  the  eye  up  to  Him,  the 
heart  reposing  on  Him  ;  and  being  done  in  Him  and 
for  Him,  it  is  not  cast  forth  at  random — a  poor  or- 
phan word  or  deed — an  estray  roaming  up  and  down 


SPIRITUAL   LABOR ITS    INCE:NTIVE   AND    KEWAKD.     131 

tlie  world  for  a  keeper  and  a  goal.     It  goes  into  sure 
keeping. 

I  have  remarked  that  all  life  is  full  of  work  done 
not  for  present  and  immediate  results,  but  for  future 
and  possibly  remote  results.  It  is  not  needful  that 
we  should  have  the  incitement  of  speedy  returns  to 
keep  us  at  our  work.  We  are  men  with  far-darting 
thoughts,  lofty  aspirations,  embracing  objects,  identi- 
fying ourselves  with  plans,  that  reach  through  genera- 
tions and  centuries.  We  deem  it  a  part  of  our  no- 
bility as  men,  to  strike  in  and  embrace  and  toil  for 
objects  that  we  do  not  in  our  brief  day  expect  to  see 
accomplished,  or  even  far  advanced.  We  feel  our- 
selves demeaned  and  belittled  when  we  follow  present 
and  speedily  accomplished  purposes,  and  elevated  as 
we  follow  those  that  require  many  hands  and  hearts 
and  many  years  to  complete. 

It  is  surprising  to  see  how  much  of  our  doing  is 
based  ou  faith.  The  farmer  casts  his  best  seed  into 
the  earth.  To  the  casual  observer  it  would  seem  lost. 
But  he  has  faith  in  the  earth  and  her  germinating 
power,  and  in  the  kindly  processes  of  nature  ;  and  so 
working  in  trust,  he  labors  not  in  vain,  but  reaps  after 
many  days.  We  lay  the  foundations  of  Institutions 
imder  which  our  children  are  to  rise  to  the  heritage 
of  a  higher  and  better  life.  We  plant  trees  under 
whose  shadow  those  of  other  generations,  perhaps 
those  of  strange  blood  and  speech,  shall  recline,  and 


132  TIIOrOHTS    FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

from  whose  boughs  they  shall  pluck  the  luscious  fruit. 
It  is  enough  that  we  have  hope  that  we  are  not  labor- 
ing in  vain,  but  that  some  sensitive  spirits  will  be  the 
better  for  our  toil.  Lift  us  to  a  higher  plane  of  feel- 
ing, associate  us  with  loftier  intelligences,  bring  us 
into  sympathy  with  God,  and  we  are  glad  to  operate 
along  the  line  of  His  Infinite  plan,  put  our  tiny  drop 
into  the  broad  and  sweeping  river  of  His  pui-poses  as 
it  flows  from  His  throne,  circles  through  earth  and 
time,  and  disembogues  in  the  vast  ocean  of  eternity. 
We  work  in  God  and  for  Him,  and  share  in  His 
glorious  and  eternal  'designs,  and  our  work  is  not  and 
cannot  be  in  vain. 

It  is  hardly  extravagant  or  irreverent  to  say,  that 
even  the  Almghty,  so  rich  in  resources,  can  hardly 
afford  to  suffer  any  labor  done  in  and  for  Him  to  be 
done  in  vain.  Loyal  souls  cannot  work  for  nought. 
Like  sweetest  odors,  their  works  must  be  condensed. 
Like  most  precious  seed,  they  must  be  cared  for  and 
watched.  Labor  in  the  Lord  at  times  seems  to  us  the 
most  unproductive  and  discouraging  of  all  work.  Its 
returns  are  slow,  its  effects  often  not  seen,  like  seed 
sown  upon  the  waters,  on  whose  retiring  tides  we 
see  it  float  away  without  waiting  long  enough  upon 
the  shores  to  see  it  yielding  a  harvest  after  many 
days.  Faith  does  the  work,  and  faith  must  see  often 
the  distant  harvest.  But  as  God  is  true,  our  labor  in 
the  Lord  shall  not  be  in  vain. 


8PIEITUAL   LABOR — ITS    INCENTIVE   AND    REWARD.     133 

Sometimes  we  see  speedy  returns — the  labor  and 
its  rewards  are  sundered  by  the  narrowest  space  of 
time.  Seedtime  chases  the  harvest,  and  both  come 
ahnost  within  the  compass  of  a  single  day.  How  often 
is  the  faithful  laborer  on  the  Sabbath,  who  takes  the 
fresh  minds  of  his  class,  and  plants  in  them  the  seed 
of  truth,  watering  it  with  his  prayers  and  tears,  per- 
mitted to  come  bringing  souls  like  precious  sheaves 
into  the  garner  of  God  ! 

Christian  fathers  and  mothers !  toil  and  pray  on. 
Your  labor  in  the  Lord  shall  not  be  in  vain.  Sabbath 
school  teacher !  weary  and  discouraged  at  the  long 
delay,  ply  vigorously  the  instrumentalities  put  into 
your  hand.  Your  labor  shall  not  be  in  vain,  l^oth- 
ing  is  so  sure  of  success  in  the  end  as  rightly  directed 
labor  for  the  Master,  well  lubricated  by  prayer.  A 
worker  in  the  spiritual  realm  who  feels  that  his  work 
has  no  root,  and  will  bring  no  fruit,  will  soon  faint 
and  turn  back.  "  God  knoweth  our  frame."  He 
remembers  our  tendencies.  Tlie  inspiration  of  true, 
lasting  success  in  our  special  line  of  toil  must  be  ours, 
and  w^e  shall  have  it.  We  may  know  that  our  labor 
shall  not  be  in  vain  in  the  Lord.  The  man  of  the 
world  runs  his  risk.  The  man  of  God  runs  no  risk. 
Labor  in  the  Lord  is  not  in  the  realm  of  chance,  but 
under  the  pledge  of  sure  success. 


XII. 

ALL  THINGS  CONDUCING  TO  THE  CHRISTIAN'S  GOOD. 

And  we  Mow  that  all  things  worJs  together  for  good  to  them  that 
love  God. — EoMANs  viii.  28. 

IT  is  remarkable  to  say  of  a  creature  so  frail,  and 
subject  to  so  many  conflicting  agencies  as  a  single 
man,  tliat  all  things  combine  to  work  out  his  real 
good ;  but  it  is  still  more  remarkable  when  we  extend 
the  statement,  and  make  it  embrace  a  whole  class  of 
men  existing  in  different  ages  and  lands — subject  to 
entirely  different  subordinate  influences  and  circum- 
stances. And  yet  the  Apostle  makes  such  a  state- 
ment. He  says  of  a  whole  class,  that  all  things  work 
together  for  their  good. 

This  apostolic  declaration  will  afford  us  a  pleasant 
and  profitable  theme  of  meditation,  and  it  will  be  my 
purpose  to  unfold  its  import,  and  to  gather  a  few  of 
the  rich  thoughts  which  the  language  presents. 

Let  us  observe  the  comprehensiveness  of  the  state- 
ment. All  things  shall  work  together  for  good.  I 
suppose  the  affirmation  is  to  be  taken  in  its  most 
literal   terms.     It  is  not  loose,  indefinite ;  it  is  not 


I 


ALL   THINGS    FOE   THE    CHRISTIAN'S    GOOD.        "^  135 

eimplj  rhetorical  language,  which  is  not  designed  to 
be  pressed  too  close,  to  be  cut  to  the  quick.  It  is  a 
precise,  literal  statement,  where  every  word  has  im- 
port and  deepens  the  meaning.  All  things  outside 
of  the  man,  that  come  upon  him  without  any  moral 
agency  of  his  own,  be  they  what  they  may,  all  com- 
bine to  secure  his  good  if  he  love  God.  His  birth, 
looked  at  as  to  its  time  and  place  ;  his  position  in  life, 
elevated  or  depressed ;  his  opportunities,  many  or  few ; 
his  fortune,  great  or  small,  prosperous  or  adverse  ;  his 
health  or  sickness ;  his  gains  or  losses ;  his  griefs  or 
joys — all  work  toward  one  grand  result.  To-day  in 
health,  and  with  firm  sinews  and  vigorous  purpose, 
he  may  be  prosecuting  on  the  fields  of  enterprise  the 
duties  of  a  noble  and  true  life  ;  to-morrow  withdrawn 
from  the  field  of  his  activities,  shut  up  in  his  home 
and  his  solitary  room,  away  from  the  haunts  of  busi- 
ness, and  the  labors  and  doings  that  win  notice  and 
applause,  painful  days  and  wakeful  nights  may  be 
assigned  him.  J^ow  he  may  be  in  the  full  tide  of 
successful  worldly  experiment — ^house  may  be  added 
to  house  and  ship  to  ship  ;  and  anou,  when  deep  sleep 
has  fallen  upon  man,  the  sudden  conflagration  may 
burst  out  that  shall  consume  his  dwellings  :  or  when 
all  is  calm  at  home,  the  storm  may  be  raging  on  the 
distant  sea  that  shall  founder  or  wreck  his  ships. 
Now,  he  may  have  his  family  and  friends  about  him, 
and  he  may  be  glad  in  their  presence  and  smile  ;  and 


136*  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE    CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

anon,  he  may  turn  pale  as  tliey  tremble  on  the  brink 
of  eternity,  or  weep  as  they  enter  its  dark  domain, 
and  he  is  left  to  walk  on  his  journey  alone.  He  may 
be  emptied  from  vessel  to  vessel.  The  discipline  of 
Providence  may  be  varied  toward  him — now  he  may 
be  taken  to  the  heights  and  then  down  to  the  depths 
of  life,  for  he,  no  more  than  other  men,  is  delivered 
from  the  calamities  of  earth  : — he  like  them  is  subject 
to  all  its  mutations  and  misfortunes.  And  yet,  amid 
all  his  changes,  whether  he  walks  the  lowly  or  the 
lofty  path — whether  he  weeps  or  smiles — is  sick  or 
well, — he  has  one  and  the  same  assurance ;  he  lives 
with  one  blessed  declaration  ever  before  him,  and  ever 
visible  if  he  will  but  keep  an  open  sense  to  see  it : — 
that  "  all  things  shall  work  together  for  his  good." 

It  must  be  all  things,  all  events,  all  changes  and 
all  circumstances,  for  if  any  one  were  disengaged  and 
taken  out  from  the  mass,  that  might  be  the  very  one 
that  would  come  in  to  counteract  all  the  rest,  and 
work  effectively  against  them.  If  all  other  events 
worked  toward  the  good  of  a  Christian  pian,  while  a 
sudden  sickness  or  a  severe  loss  came  in  to  work 
against  him,  then  the  sickness  or  the  loss  might  prove 
more  potent  than  all  the  rest,  and  the  result  might  be 
evil  and  not  good.  There  can  be  no  perfect  assurance 
of  good,  unless  all  events  in  their  combined  influence 
work  toward  good.  The  declaration  then  is  to  be 
taken  in  its  most  wide  and  literal  terms,  that  if  we 


ALL  THINGS   FOR  THE   CHRISTIAN'S   GOOD.  137 

love  our  Maker,  all  the  events  of  our  individual  life 
work  to  the  same  issue.  "Whatever  has  happened, 
whatever  may  happen,  all  will  conspire  to  secure  one 
result. 

We  shall  do  well  to  observe  the  entii^e  unity  of 
aim  that  all  things  cherish.  Thej  work  together.  The 
Apostle  speaks  as  though  they  all  were  conscious,  in- 
telligent creatures,  as  though 'they  were  all  capable 
of  thought  and  volition,  and  could  enter  into  a  last- 
ing and  friendly  copartnership,  could  form  one  plan, 
cherish  one  purpose.  They  work,  and  they  work  in 
company. 

It  would  be  curious,  though  not  with  our  capaci- 
ties possible,  to  compute  the  diverse  and  innumer- 
able influences  and  agencies  that  concentrate  and 
work  upon  any  one  single  man,  even  the  humblest 
man  of  the  race  :  the  countless  events,  great  or  small, 
that  happen  to  him  in  his  brief  history :  the  changes 
that  are  meted  out  to  him.  It  is  not  in  the  power 
of  an  angelic  mind  to  comprehend  all  the  agencies 
that  come  to  affect  any  one  of  us  all.  All  past  time — 
all  events,  recorded  or  unrecorded,  remembered  or 
forgotten,  are  at  work  silently  upon  us.  Our  j)ersonal 
life  is  built  up  out  of  all  the  past.  Everything  that 
has  occurred  in  the  centuries  that  have  ffone,  makes 
us  a  little  different.  Every  person  that  has  lived  has 
cast  abroad  upon  the  world  a  tiny  influence  that 
reaches  all  who  come  after  him.     As  these  material 


138  THOUGHTS  FOR  THE   CHEISTIAIT   LIFE. 

bodies  draw  the  particles  that  compose  them  from 
earth,  air,  and  sea,  as  the  single  drop  of  blood  that 
circles  now  in  my  veins  may  have  laid  under  contri- 
bution all  the  continents  and  seas  of  earth ;  so  these 
souls,  these  lives  of  ours  draw  succulence  from  all  other 
souls — all  other  lives. 

Now  it  is  not  that  all  these  subtile  or  obvious, 
these  great  or  small  agencies — these  events  of  our 
lives,  important  or  unimportant,  work  each  apart 
and  alone  for  the  good  of  the  lovers  of  their  God. 
That  were  a  thing  most  devoutly  to  be  wished  and 
to  be  grateful  for  ;  if  each  agency,  each  event,  had  a 
separate  and  individual  good- will  toward  them,  and 
worked  with  a  single  good  pui-pose  to  bless  them. 
But  this  idea  does  not  meet  the  fulness  of  the  Apos- 
tle's language.  They  all  work — not  alone — but  to- 
gether. They  seem  bent — not  on  doing  us,  if  we  love 
God,  what  good  they  can  alone.  They  are  anxious  to 
combine  their  strength,  to  enter  into  companionship. 
They  conspire,  flow  together  in  a  divine  unity.  They 
are  all  harnessed  like  so  many  swift  coursers  of  the 
skies,  each  with  all,  and  all  with  each,  to  draw  us  on 
and  up  to  good.  This  is  the  idea,  outstanding  and 
prominent — ^the  flowing  together  of  all  things,  their 
uniting  like  separate  drops  and  rills  trickling  down 
the  mountain  sides  of  Providence  into  one  stream,  on 
whose  current  the  lover  of  God  is  borne  toward  all 
good.     Mark  again  the  force  of  the  language  and  the 


blessedness  of  the  tliouglit.     "  All  things  shall  work 
together^ 

Observe  again  the  goal,  the  end  toward  which 
they  work — ''  work  together  for  good  to  them  that 
love  God."  It  is  not  that  all  events  work  toward 
their  present  ease,  or  comfort,  or  worldly  advantage, 
toward  their  progress  in  wealth  or  honor.  It  were  a 
poor  end  to  aim  at — it  were  an  unworthy  purpose  for 
the  world's  events,  so  far  as  they  reached  and  affected 
an  individual,  to  form  themselves  into  a  copartnership 
to  make  him  a  little  more  easy  and  comfortable — to 
give  him  a  little  better  house,  and  richer  equipage — 
to  make  his  name  sound  a  little  farther,  and  to  hear 
it  uttered  by  a  few  more,  and  a  little  longer  in  the 
world's  history :  while  the  man  in  his  substantial 
character  was  coming  no  more  into  obedience  to  the 
great  laws  of  the  universe,  was  gaining  nothing  in 
purity — richness — depth — power — his  surroundings 
more  agreeable,  but  he  himself  no  better.  Providence 
is  not  working,  all  history  is  not  working,  all  the  events 
of  six  thousand  years  have  not  transpired,  millions 
upon  millions  have  not  lived — smiled — sighed — joyed 
— suffered,  and  gone  out  of  the  world  on  chariots  of 
pain — Christ  has  not  lived  and  died — in  a  word,  aU 
the  influences  that  have  been  set  a-going,  in  our  world, 
that  are  now  operating  upon  each  and  all,  are  not 
operating  that  any  of  us  may  be  a  little  more  refined 
sort  of  animals,  or  that  we  may  pass  our  days  a  little 


140  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

more  prosperously.  No.  God  has  been  and  is  work- 
ing in  this  world  to  make  men  and  women ;  to  regen- 
erate, purify,  cement,  and  build  up  human  character : 
in  other  words,  God  is  working  in  human  affairs  and 
events  for  the  good  of  those  that  love  Him,  those  that 
are  "  called  according  to  Btis  purpose."  We  may  be 
working  toward  one  end,  God  may  be  working  toward 
another  and  far  different  end.  We  may  be  pui-pos- 
ing  to  build  up  a  fortune  or  fame,  and  may  be  adapt- 
ing means  wisely  to  our  purpose.  God  may  have 
called  us  to  His  glory  and  kingdom,  and  may  come 
right  across  our  path,  and  dash  all  our  well -laid 
schemes  to  pieces  like  a  potter's  vessel.  He  may  take 
down  all  our  airy  castles,  mock  all  our  hopes,  strip  us 
of  all  our  property,  check  us  on  this  hand  and  on  that. 
He  may  make  it  stormy  where  we  had  promised  our- 
selves a  calm.  He  may  snatch  the  last  star  out  of 
our  sky,  and  wrap  us  in  darkness,  and  we  may  say, 
like  one  of  old,  "All  these  things  are  against  me." 
And  they  are  against  oar  low  and  personal  aims. 
God  means  to  make  all  things  work  together  for  onr 
real  and  lasting  good,  and  even  we  can  see  that  that 
often  turns  out  for  our  good  which  we  had  regarded 
as  intending  us  evil.  We  may  faint  in  our  purpose 
of  following  real  good,  but  God  holds  us  to  it.  K 
we  forget  it.  He  has  His  own  ways  of  reminding  us 
of  it ;  if  we  turn  aside  from  it.  He  has  His  own  ways 
of  drawing  us  back  to  it.     The  resources  of  God  are 


I 


141 


infinite.  All  the  world  is  His  storehouse — all  time 
and  all  events  His  instruments.  He  works  through, 
all  things,  and  in  all  His  true  friends,  to  secure  their 
real,  eternal  good.  "  All  things  work  together  for 
good  to  them  that  love  God." 

Let  us  note  what  it  is  in  a  person — a  class,  that 
causes  all  things  to  conspire  in  working  out  his  and 
their  good — what  is  that  magic  power  within,  that 
unites  all  things  without  in  a  holy  combination  to 
secure  our  good. 

It  is  simple  love  to  God.  This  is  not  only  a  charm 
to  bear  us  harmless  through  all  the  dark  events  of 
life  ;  it  were  much  if  it  did  this.  But  it  does  infinitely 
more  than  this.  It  lays  them  all  under  contribution 
to  bless  us.  It  draws  them  all  into  our  service.  It 
puts,  as  it  were,  a  new  aim  and  purpose  into  them. 
It  inspires  them  all  with  a  secret  good- will  toward  us. 
Though  they  may  approach  us  fi'owningly,  yet  thejj 
come  to  us  as  Haman  did  to  Mordecai,  to  do  us  kingly 
honors.  It  is  love  going  up  out  of  the  human  soul 
— piercing  the  skies — resting  in  the  Maker  of  all 
things  and  the  Governor  of  all  events,  that  puts  aU 
things  into  an  alembic,  fuses  them,  and  turns  them 
into  gold.  It  is  love  that  is  master  of  all  circumstan- 
ces and  events,  of  all  men  and  things,  of  all  history 
and  all  the  present,  and  unites  them  in  blessed  har- 
mony in  the  active  furtherance  of  our  good,  if  we  be 
Christians. 


142  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

We  sometimes  tliink  that  love  to  God  turns  all 
men  and  all  things  against  ns ;  and  in  a  sense  it  does. 
It  does  turn  the  world  against  ns.  It  does  sometimes 
shnt  men  np  in  prison  and  drive  them  to  the  martyr's 
stake.  It  does  bring  pain,  and  groans,  and  tears. 
And  yet,  looked  at  from  the  height  of  heaven,  and 
with  eyes  anointed  with  heavenly  eye-salve,  love 
to  God  bows  the  world  in  homage  to  ns,  makes  its 
devotees  our  servants,  makes  all  the  enemies  of  God 
and  His  cause  workers  in  conjunction,  and  when 
they  mean  not  so,  for  our  spiritual  and  eternal  good. 
So  that  after  all,  love  to  God  is  not  the  timid  slave, 
but  the  master  of  the  world  :  it  is  the  golden  thread 
that  passes  through  and  around  all  events,  and  makes 
them  when  otherwise  they  would  not,  subserve  our 
wisest  wishes  and  our  holiest  ends.  All  things — this 
we  know  under  the  light  of  Inspiration  and  the  tuition 
of  the  Spirit — "  All  things  shall  work  together  for 
good  .to  those  that  love  God." 

Our  subject  teaches  us  first,  where  our  chief  care 
— our  great  solicitudes  should  lie,  what  direction  they 
should  take.  We  camiot  control  our  birth,  rank, 
many  of  our  outward  circumstances.  We  are  set 
down  here  in  this  world  amid  its  often  conflicting 
powers  and  agencies.  It  is  not  in  us  to  marshal,  bind, 
and  lead  on  events  or  men  as  we  would  wish.  They 
are  out  of  our  domain,  and  beyond  our  control.  Our 
care  need  not  and  should  not  be  so  much  to  govern  as ; 


143 


to  get  good  out  of  them,  and  we  do  this  when  we  love 
God.  Our  care  then  should  be  to  love  God,  here,  in 
our  own  souls.  We  have  power,  God  helping  us,  over 
our  hearts.  Love  to  God  gives  us  the  best  possible 
mastery  over  the  outer  world.  Let  ns  love  God,  and 
all  events  that  we  cannot  govern — fulfil  one  office  for 
us.     They  do  us  good. 

And  we  can  see  how  great  and  good  must  be  that 
Being,  how  constant  His  presence  and  His  watchful- 
ness over  us,  when  not  the  smallest  event  can  oppose 
His  benevolent  designs  to  His  friends !  He  must 
watch  and  control  the  falliug  of  the  sparrow,  for  with- 
out this,  even  it  might  destroy  us.  How  blessed  to 
be  under  the  government  and  supervision  of  a  Being 
who  works  in  all  things — in  all  time — in  all  the  uni- 
verse, and  makes  all  things  work  together  for  good  to 
those  that  love  Him  ! 

The  office  of  faith  is  to  take  God  at  His  word  ; 
it  is,  with  love  in  our  hearts,  to  go  out  calmly  into  the 
future  so  dark  to  us,  believing  that  God  is  oiu'  Guar- 
dian, and  that  in  ways  to  us  unknown,  the  darkest 
calamities  of  life  will  conspire  with  its  brightest  scenes 
to  do  us  good. 


XIII. 

HUMAN   JUDGMENTS    CORRECT,    AS    OUR   WILLS    ACCORD 
WITH    GOD'S. 

And  my  judgment  is  just ;  because  I  seek  not  mine  own  will^  "but 
the  will  of  the  Father  which  hath  sent  me. — John  v.  30. 

0  HEIST  had  just  before  affirmed  tliat  authority 
to  judge  the  world  had  been  given  Him  of  God, 
and  He  here  asserts  that  His  judgment  would  be  just, 
because  His  will  was  subordinate  to  the  Father's  will. 
Justice  is  a  prime  requisite  in  a  judge.  'No  one  who 
has  not  it  deeply  imbedded  in  his  soul  is  fit  for  that 
office.  All  gifts,  all  learning,  cannot  be  substituted 
for  that.  The  glory  departs  from  the  seat  of  judg- 
ment when  that  departs.  Now  Christ  declares  that 
within  the  vast  area  of  judgment  assigned  Him,  cov- 
ering a  world  and  a  race.  His  judgments  would  all  be 
just,  because  His  own  will  was  subordinate,  and  His 
Father's  supreme.  Were  His  will  out  of  harmony  with 
God's,  did  it  not  play  into  it  sweetly  and  constantly, 
He  would  be  unfitted  for  judgment ;  the  destiny  of  the 
race  would  be  unsafe  in  His  hands.  When  we  leave 
Christ,  and  come  down  to  men,  it  is  no  less  true  that 


WHEN    HUMAN    JUDGMENTS    ARE   CORRECT.  145 

their  judgments  are  just  in  proportion  as  tliey  seek, 
not  their  own  will,  but  that  of  the  Father. 

This  then  is  our  theme.    Human  judgments  just,  as 
our  wills  are  in  harmony  with  God's. 

It  is  obvious  to  premise  that  Christ's  judgments 
occupy  a  different  sphere — a  vastly  broader  and  loftier 
one  than  ours ; — His  wide,  sweeping  over  time  and 
space,  peremptory,  decisive ;  ours  narrow,  fallible, 
and  subject  to  review  ; — His  embracing  a  race  with 
their  eternal  destiny  ;  ours  concerned  with  the  smaller 
matters  mainly  of  individual  life.  But  within  our 
legitimate  circuits,  with  reference  to  the  subjects  and 
interests  they  include,  our  judgments,  like  Christ's, 
are  and  can  be  only  just,  correct,  true,  as  our  wills  are 
in  a  line  with  God's.  Christ  has  His  sphere  of  judg- 
ment, we  have  ours.  Our  judgments  are  interlocked 
at  least  with  our  own  destiny,  often  with  the  destiny 
of  others.  Our  judgments  of  men  and  things,  of  great 
and  important  questions  and  interests,  of  practical 
duties,  often  decide  our  course,  our  position  in  life, 
our  character,  our  influence,  our  immortal  condition. 
Limited  as  they  may  relatively  be  in  their  scope,  they 
are  yet  as  signilicant  as  we  and  our  destinies  are. 
How  shall  they  be  true  ?  Answer  :  As  we  seek  not 
our  own  will,  but  God's. 

We  have  to  form  judgments  of  men.     We  are  set 
down  among  them,  we  are  intervolved  with  them, 
we  have  to  do  with  them,  we  carry  on  society,  busi- 
1 


146  THOUGHTS   FOB  THE  CHRISTIAN   LIFE.  _ 

ness,  governments,  with  them,  we  cannot  escape  them*  ] 
And  we  have  to  scratmize  them  narrowly,  for  they 
are  a  strange  mixture  of  good  and  bad,  small  and 
great,  mean  and  generous.  We  cannot  put  them  into 
one  category,  and  cover  them  with  one  general  title, 
and  treat  them  in  one  general  way.  We  have  to  dis- 
criminate wisely,  nicely,  pry  into  shades  of  character, 
go  below  the  surface,  penetrate  to  the  subsoil,  turn 
up  the  interior  as  best  we  may  to  the  light,  and  exam- 
ine them  through  and  tlirough.  Much  of  the  success, " 
the  peace,  the  comfort  of  life  will  be  dependent  on  our 
judgments  of  men.  Venturing  out  among  men  is 
very  much  like  sailing  among  waters  where  rocks  are 
thick,  and  blind  venturing  will  not  do.  How  shall 
we  judge  men  truly  and  well  ?  ]S"ot  with  a  vulpine 
cunning — not  with  a  shallow  suspicion — ^not  with  a 
bitter  censoriousness — and  not  with  an  easy  credulity 
which  takes  words  for  deeds,  and  surface  for  charac- 
ter ;  but  with  a  will  running  in  divine  grooves,  and , 
with  eyes  that  are  burnished  with  divine  eye-salve, 
His  judgments  of  men  are  most  just  who  can  say  with] 
Christ,  "  I  seek  not  mine  own  will,  but  the  will  of] 
the  Father  which  hath  sent  me." 

We  have  to  form  judgments  of  the  relative  value] 
of  things,  the  present  and  the  future,  the  near  anc 
far-off,  the  visible  and  invisible.  Every  man  must 
and  does  form  practical  judgments  here.  He  soon 
learns  that  he  is  not  stationary,  that  he  is  upon  a  tide, 


WHEN    HUMAN   JUDGMENTS   ARE   CORRECT.  147 

sweeping  on  with  all  the  world  to  one  great  termimis 
where  he  and  all  pass  out  of  sight,  drop  into  dark- 
ness. He  has  to  consult  the  present  and  the  future, 
anticipate  the  future  and  provide  for  it.  He  learns 
that  this  life  is  not  the  end — that  there  is  a  life  be- 
yond demanding  his  thoughts  and  his  solicitudes,  and 
he  must  determine  whether  he  will  heed  the  voices, 
listen  to  the  w^arnings  of  the  future  and  invisible. 
He  must — he  does  form  some  practical  judgments  on 
the  relative  importance  of  the  present  and  the  future, 
and  of  the  treasures  to  be  laid  up  in  the  one  or  the 
other  or  both.  He  must — he  does  decide  whether  he, 
as  an  individual  man,  will  act  with  reference  to  the 
great  hereafter,  to  an  opening  eternity ;  or  whether 
he  will  close  up  that  hereaftei*,  that  eternity,  and  act 
as  though  earth  were  all.  In  every  mind  there  are 
forming  or  are  formed  practical  judgments  on  these 
things.  How  shall  these  judgments  be  true  ?  Into 
what  position  shall  a  man  come  w^here  he  will  be  most 
likely  to  strike  a  proper  balance  between  the  two  in- 
terests, the  two  worlds,  and  appreciate  both  according 
to  their  relative  value  ?  Answer :  When  like  Christ  he 
can  say,  "  I  seek  not  mine  own  will,  but  the  will  of 
the  Father  which  hath  sent  me." 

We  are  summoned  to  form  judgments  of  God,  of 
Christ,  of  the  Bible  and  its  contents.  Every  man  who 
has  heard  of  these  must  do  so.  "  What  think  ye  of 
tliese  ? "  is  the  query,  that  steals  in  or  thunders,  or  at 


148  THOUGHTS   FOE  THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

least  knocks  more  or  less  loudly  at  the  door  of  every 
man's  sonl.  If  we  are  to  stand  at  God's  bar  for  judg- 
ment finally,  it  is  no  less  true  that  God  stands  at  our 
bar  for  judgment  now.  So  with  Christ,  so  with  the 
Bible,  so  with  all  spiritual  realities.  We  have  our 
own  souls  given  us,  and  with  them  we  must  form — all 
due  aids  being  furnished  us  indeed  if  sought — our 
judgments  of  these  glorious  personages  and  interests. 
I  cannot  borrow  your  soul  to  form  my  estimate  of 
these,  nor  you  mine.  I  cannot  go  up  into  heaven  and 
get  the  loan  of  Gabriel's  faculties,  his  excursive  pow- 
ers, his  insight,  and  with  them  gain  a  vision  of  God, 
and  of  Jesus,  and  divine  truth.  God  comes  to  me 
as  I  am,  comes  to  see  what  I  will  think  of  Him  and 
His.  I  have  but  my  own  tiny  mirror  in  which  to 
collect  the  beams  of  His  glory.  My  thought  of  Him 
and  His  may  be  narrow,  circumscribed,  shallow  at 
best,  but  it  must  be  mine  and  not  another's.  It  is 
not  more  true  that  this  eye  of  mine  must  be  lifted  to 
the  heavens,  and  take  in  what  of  their  grandeur  it 
can,  than  it  is  that  this  soul  of  mine  must  be  lifted 
into  God,  into  His  mighty  truths,  and  take  in  what 
of  these  it  can.  It  may  see  and  embrace  more  or  less 
than  another  ;  but  it  must  see  and  embrace  for  itself, 
not  for  another.  What  I  think  of  these  may  be  one 
thing,  what  you  think  may  be  another ;  but  our 
thought  must  be  our  own,  it  must  be  the  action  of  our 
own  soul,  the  result  of  its  sight  and  apprehension. 


WHEN    HUMAN   JUDGMENTS    ARE   COKRECT.  140 

"Now  again  the  question  comes :  How  shall  onr 
thought  of  these,  our  judgments  about  them  be  true  ? 
Answer  :  When  we  can  say  with  Jesus,  "  I  seek  not 
mine  own  will,  but  the  will  of  the  Father  which  hath 
sent  me." 

We  have  judgments  to  form  of  practical  duties  in 
life — what  we  personally  shall  do,  where  go  and  stay, 
how  much  give,  how  order  life  in  its  details,  so  that 
amid  all  its  breakages  and  entanglements,  it  shall  yet 
preserve  a  imity  and  beauty.  This  is  not  an  easy 
thing.  No  one  that  understands  men  will  deem  it  so. 
A  due  measure  of  the  force  of  a  wise  man's  thought 
will  be  spent  on  these  questions  ;  it  will  be  happy  for 
him  if  much  of  the  impetus  and  energy  of  life  are  not 
exhausted  in  winding  his  way  among  these  questions 
of  casuistry.  Indeed,  some  men  are  so  absorbed  in 
questions  about  what  they  shall  do,  that  they  do  noth- 
ing. Life  has  all  the  force  taken  out  of  it  by  the  en- 
tertainment of  these  petty  and  thorny  scrupulosities. 
Let  a  man  put  his  life  under  the  supervision  of  con- 
science at  all,  and  he  needs  a  clear  judgment  to  make 
conscience  a  silent,  mighty,  unconscious  power  within 
him — loved  and  cherished,  and  not  a  master  feared 
and  dreaded.  Now  how  shall  our  judgments  on  these 
questions  of  daily  duty  be  true  and  reliable  ?  how 
shall  we  move  off  and  on  in  life  under  our  own  de- 
cisions, without  ever  reverting  to  the  past,  going  back 
to  the  starting-point,  and  querying  whether  we  were 


150  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

right,  agonizingly  reliving  the  past  in  the  attempt  to 
better  live  the  future  ?  Answer  again  :  By  saying 
with  Christ,  ''  I  seek  not  mine  own  will,  but  the  will 
of  the  Father  which  sent  me." 

On  all  these  points,  and  on  others  not  specified, 
where  we  must  and  do  form  practical  judgments,  we 
can  have  the  best  assurance  that  they  are  just  when 
we  are  seeking  in  our  separate  acts,  not  our  own  will 
but  the  wdll  of  the  Father. 

But  that  our  judgments  on  all  these  questions  are 
and  must  be  most  true  and  reliable  when  we  are  in  the 
line  of  the  Divine  will,  will  appear  from  two  general 
considerations : 

First.  We  are  then  in  the  best  internal  state  to 
form  correct  judgments.     A  wide  observation  of  men, 
a  wide  survey  of  history,  leads  to  the  conviction  that 
the  practical  judgments  of  men  are  not  true  always 
in  the  direct  ratio  of  their  greatness,  of  their  intellec- 
tual breadth  and  enlargement ;    much  less  of  their , 
energy  of  will  and  action.     It  ought  to  be  so.     The ! 
rule  should  be  this.     Given  a  man's  power  of  compre- 
hension, and  then  you  have  the  measure  of  the  value 
of  his  judgments  on  all  affairs  appertaining  to  human 
life.     But  it  would  be  a  fatal  mistake  so  to  conclude. 
Perhaps  if  we  were  called  upon  to  select  from  the 
mass  of  men  those  that  have  erred  most  fatally  ii 
their  practical  judgments  of  life,  we  should   select 
some  who  have  been  the  richest  in  endowment  an< 


WHEN    HUMAN    JUDGMENTS   AEE    COIIRECT.  151 

most  forcible  in  action.  A  man's  largeness  may  be 
a  temptation  to  shoot  off  into  erratic  courses.  Napo- 
leon has  been  thought  by  many  to  be  the  most  gifted 
in  certain  directions  of  all  mortals,  but  no  man  erred 
more  fatally  in  his  estiiAates  of  men  and  things.  He 
swept  through  Europe  in  as  mad  defiance  of  the  laws 
of  man  and  society  as  if  he  had  attempted  to  subvert 
the  laws  of  matter.  He  attempted  things  that  a 
million  of  men  could  have  told  him  were  utterly  im- 
practicable. I  might  admire  the  man  who  with  giant 
and  unequalled  muscle  should  hurl  a  stone  beyond  my 
sight  into  the  sky ;  but  I  should  deem  him  no  less  a 
fool  for  all  his  might,  if  he  should  think  that  he  was 
mightier  than  the  silent  laws.  When  the  Babylonian 
monarch  prostrates  a  whole  empire  with  all  the  gifted 
spirits  in  it,  except  three  Jewish  youth,  before  the 
image  he  has  set  up,  it  may  indicate  his  power,  but  it 
is  no  token  of  his  wisdom.  I  call  him  a  wise  man 
who  perceives  the  paths  that  God  opens  to  him,  and 
walks  in  tliem  silently  and  quietly ;  not  him  who 
breaks  against  the  barriers  that  God  has  reared 
around  him,  and  wins  notice  by  the  noise  he  makes 
in  the  concussion. 

Now  when  a  man  is  in  the  line  of  the  Divine  will, 
he  is  in  just  that  state  that  enables  him  to  see  the 
paths  opened  for  him  to  walk  in — the  courses  he 
should  take — the  localities  he  should  occupy — the 
things  he  should  do.     His  passions  are  subordinated 


152  THOUGHTS   FOK   THE   CHKISTLAJN    LIFE. 

to  law,  and  send  up  no  impenetrable  fogs  to  obscure 
liis  sight ;  liis  will  is  not  driving  him  with  impatient 
haste  into  wrong  theatres  of  action  ;  he  has  no  selfish 
ends  to  subserve.  He  is  ready,  willing,  anxious  to  see 
what  he  should  do,  with  his  gifts,  and  in  his  position. 
His  judgments  will  be  right  because  his  eye  will  be 
single.  Subjecting  his  will  in  all  meekness,  he  will 
not  be  projecting  his  judgments  out  into  theatres  and 
off  upon  subjects  that  God  has  not  brought  before  him 
for  his  judgment  to  act  upon  at  all.  With  respect  to 
what  lies  outside  his  sphere,  he  will  behave  himself 
like  "  a  weaned  child,"  not  prying  into  things  too 
high  or  too  deep,  but  walking  on  his  own  level,  bring- 
ing his  powers  to  bear  upon  topics  that  are  brought 
within  his  beat ;  while  a  child,  content  to  think  and 
judge  as  a  child. 

But,  Secondly  :  E'ot  only  will  one  whose  will  is  in 
the  line  of  the  Divine  will  be  in  the  best  internal  state 
to  judge  truly  and  correctly,  but  he  will  have  the  best 
external  helps,  and  will  be  in  the  best  possible  posi- 
tion to  judge  so.  Even  if  we  would  judge  of  material 
things  rightly,  we  must  occupy  the  right  position  as 
well  as  have  a  clear  vision.  There  is  one  point  where 
a  landscape  stands  out  in  its  loveliest  aspect,  and  all 
its  beauty  or  grandeur  comes  gleaming  in  upon  your 
soul.  You  gaze  upon  it  elsewhere,  and  its  glory  is 
gone.  There  is  a  position  in  the  moral  and  spiritual 
realm  where  the  whole  moral  and  spiritual  landscape 


WHEN    HUMAN    JIDGMKNTS    ARE    COKRECT.  153 

shines  in  upon  us,  and  that  position  is  a  sweet  har- 
mony of  our  wills  with  that  of  God. 

Moreover,  there  are  helps  enabling  our  powers  to 
act  most  successfully  in  the  discovery  of  truth — in  the 
formation  of  our  practical  judgments  over  the  whole 
area  that  our  duties  cover.  It  is  no  less  a  truth  of 
piety  than  it  is  a  profound  apothegm  in  j^hilosophy, 
that  "  in  God's  light  w^e  see  light ; "  just  as  in  the 
material  world  we  not  only  need  a  clear  eye  and  a 
right  position  if  we  would  see,  but  the  sun  shining  in 
his  brightness.  ''  God  is  our  Sun ;  He  makes  our 
day." 

Wc  see  all  truth  and  all  duty  only  as  we  see  them 
in  His  light.  We  get  into  line  with  God,  and  God 
shines  in  upon  us.  AYe  see.  Our  powers  work  in 
tlieir  proper  medium.  They  are  balanced.  They  are 
in  Jiarmony  with  each  other  and  with  God.  We  pass 
in  will  out  of  God,  and  it  is  like  light  attempting  to 
bend  around  an  angle,  or  to  penetrate  into  a  cavern 
to  meet  our  vision.  We  come  in  will  into  harmony 
with  God,  and  it  is  like  standing  out  under  the  broad 
cope  of  heaven  on  some  hilltop,  with  the  glories  of 
high  noon  bathing  the  encompassing  panorama.  Our 
judgments  are  true  because  we  are  furnished  with 
Divine  aids  for  judgment. 

A  single  practical  remark  in  conclusion.  It  is 
this — that  our  practical  judgments  that  cover  the 
sphere  of  our  daily  duties  are  dependent  nut  on  great 


154  THOUGHTS   FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

endowments,  or  favorable  opportiinifies,  or  high  po- 
sition, but  on  a  simple  subjection  of  our  wills  to  the 
Father's  will.  As  no  two  men  have  the  same  gifts 
or  positions,  so  no  two  men  are  called  upon  to  have 
the  same  precise  judgments ;  but  if  I  in  my  sphere 
fall  into  harmony  with  God,  in  other  words,  if  my 
will  is  right,  my  judgment  may  be  right  also.  The 
Everlasting  Son  of  God  sitting  in  assize  upon  a  world 
could  not  fulfil  His  function  of  judgment  except  as 
His  will  was  that  of  the  Father  which  sent  Him. 

I  in  mine,  you  in  your  lowly  sphere,  where  we  are 
called  for  decisions  vastly  less  important  and  yet 
greatly  influential  upon  ourselves  and  others,  may 
have  our  decisions  true  also  in  the  same  way.  Get 
into  line,  and  then  judge.  See  in  God — not  out  of 
Him,  and  you  will  see  correctly.  Life  will  be  order- 
ly, symmetrical ;  the  minor  judgments  as  w^ell  as  the 
greater  will  \>q  judgments^  not  notions — ^judgments  on 
which  you  may  act  as  the  mariner  acts  upon  his  ob- 
servations, sailing  over  dark  seas,  trusting  lives  to 
them. 


XIV. 

THE   INTEGRITY   OF    THE   DIVINE    JUDGE. 

Shall  not  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth  do  right .?— Genesis  xviii.  25. 

THE  immediate  connection  in  whicli  tliis  question 
is  asked  by  Abraham,  I  sliall  not  stop  to  con- 
sider. It  is  a  general  question.  The  soul  of  man  is 
often  tempted  to  ask  it  with  some  doubt  as  to  the 
manner  in  which  it  shall  be  answered.  In  such  a 
world  as  this,  where  there  is  so  nnich  wrong  and  so 
much  suffering — where  we  so  often  pass  under  the 
cloud,  and  see  no  sun  and  no  star  for  many  days — we 
are  sometimes  tempted  to  pass  clear  up  to  the  throne 
of  God,  and  lay  the  question  down  before  the  Eternal, 
and  ask  if  even  He  will  always  do  right. 

There  are  two  ways  in  which  we  may  answer  or 
attempt  to  answer  this  question.  We  may  go  into  an 
extended  investigation  of  the  ways  and  doings  of  God 
— beginning  in  doubt  as  to  the  answer  we  shall  gain. 
We  may  bring  the  doings  of  God  down  to  our  own 
ideas — attempt  to  weigh  them  in  our  own  balances, 
and  thus  seek  to  establish  our  conclusions  as  to  the 
righteousness  of  God.     AVe  may  start  as  true  Baco- 


156  THOUGHTS  for  the  christian  life. 

nian  philosophers  with  no  theory  upon  tlie  point  what- 
ever— with  a  determination  to  search  after  facts — after 
the  Divine  doings,  and  frame  om'  theory  to  meet  our 
facts — resolved  to  settle  our  theories  of  God  as  we  do 
our  theories  of  science — resolved  to  admit  nothing  till 
we  have  examined  and  weighed  our  facts.  This  is 
one  way — the  way  of  demonstration.  In  this  way  we 
hold  our  judgment  in  complete  abeyance,  till  we  have 
gone  through  our  investigations ;  we  withhold  our  con- 
fidence till  our  heads  have  gone  through  their  logical 
23rocesses.  We  are  absolutely  without  a  God  in 
w^hom  we  can  trust  till  we  have  surveyed  the  Divine 
doings  widely,  and  sifted  and  settled  them  well. 

But  the  question  may  be  interposed  here :  How 
far  shall  we  investigate  the  Divine  doings  before  we 
come  to  our  conclusion — how  far  shall  we  go  back  in 
the  history  of  the  past — how  wide  incursions  shall  we 
make  into  the  empire  of  God — shall  we  limit  our- 
selves to  the  Divine  doings  here  upon  the  earth,  or 
shall  we  scale  the  heavens,  and  seek  to  know  what 
He  is  doing  in  other  departments  of  His  domin- 
ions ?  What  facts — how  many  of  the  doings  of  Deity 
must  we  know  and  weigh,  before  we  shall  settle  it 
that  He  will  do  right  ?  How  long  shall  we  remain 
without  a  God  before  we  shall  settle  it  that  we  have  a 
God  ?  You  perceive  at  once  that  this  way  of  deter- 
mining the  righteousness  of  God,  by  demonstration — 
of  reaching  the  heart  through  the  head,  is  a  very  long 


THE    INTEGRITY    OF   THE   DIVINE   JUDGE.  157 

one.  Some  would  require  years  to  reach  tlieir  con- 
clusions, and  some,  we  fear,  would  be  without  God 
from  necessity  all  their  days  ;  for  the  soul  that  has  no 
confidence  that  God  will  do  right,  is  to  all  intents  and 
pui-poses  without  God. 

But  there  is  a  far  better  way.  It  is  to  start  with 
the  confidence  that  God  will  do  right :  it  is  to  bound 
up  and  stand  on  that  lofty  and  solid  platform  at  once  : 
— to  begin  all  our  investigations  into  the  ways  and 
works  of  God — to  go  out  into  the  dark  paths  of  the 
universe  with  this  conviction.  All  sciences  have  tlieir 
first  principles — their  axiomatic  truths.  Even  the 
mathematics  have  theirs.  The  most  sceptical  investi- 
gator that  will  never  advance  an  inch  without  clear- 
ing his  path  before  him,  must  start  with  some  things 
admitted.  And  in  theology  too,  there  are  axiomatic 
truths  that  we  must  stand  on  and  start  on,  to  stand 
and  start  at  all,  and  this  is  one  of  them  :  The  Judge 
of  all  the  earth  will  do  right. 

Tliis  we  may  regard  as  one  of  the  intuitions  of  the 
human  soul.  It  has  been  a  question  with  wise  men, 
whether  a  belief  in  the  existence  of  a  God  is  planted 
in  the  human  soul — down  among  its  very  foundations, 
and  wi'onght  into  its  entire  structure.  It  is  sufliciont 
for  all  practical  purposes  to  say,  that  the  idea  of  the 
Divine  existence  is  suggested  in  germ  at  least,  as  soon 
as  our  faculties  are  quickened — as  soon  as  we  begin  to 
look  out  upon  nature,  to  commune  with  it — to  think 


168  THOUGHTS   FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

and  feel.  We  say,  in  germ,  for  the  idea  of  the  Divine 
existence  like  other  ideas,  is  dim  and  shadowy  at 
first ;  but  we  believe  there  is  no  moment  when  a 
healthy,  well-adjusted  soul  is  left  without  this  idea. 
An  utter  absence  of  it  is  a  species  of  insanity.  Now 
we  say  that  as  soon  as  this  idea  of  the  Divine  exist- 
ence rises  in  the  soul — its  light  and  glory — its  richest, 
best  possession, — so  soon  does  the  idea  of  the  Divine 
righteousness  rise  with  it,  and  become  a  part  of  it. 
We  name  it  an  intuition  of  the  soul — it  springs  up  spon- 
taneously— prior  to  all  demonstrations,  and  we  may 
add  too,  it  is  the  basis  of  all  demonstrations  ;  so  that 
it  requires  no  lengthened  investigations  to  prove  it. 
The  learned  man  has  no  particular  advantages  in  this 
respect  over  the  ignorant.  If  it  depended  on  demon- 
strations, the  educated  would  have  it,  the  ignorant 
would  be  wholly  without  it.  But  it  is  an  intuition 
— we  start  with  it — we  build  our  beliefs  upon  that 
as  a  foundation.  We  are  all  afloat — a  fleck  of  foam 
gliding  on  the  current,  till  we  have  this  belief :  "  The 
Judge  of  all  the  earth  will  do  right."  I  fix  this  con- 
viction, then,  among  the  intuitions  of  the  human  soul. 
But  the  idea  being  there  in  all  right  minds  alike 
almost,  it^  like  other  ideas,  may  wdden  and  deepen 
with  time  and  thought.  Mark  the  corrdboraticni  which 
the  idea  gains  in  the  mind  of  Abraham  from  the  posi- 
tion of  God :  The  Judge  of  all  the  earth.  He  is  a 
Judge.     Place  one  in  the  position  of  a  judge,  and  we 


THE   INTEGRITY    OF   THE   DIVINE   JUDGE.  159 

anticipate  at  once  the  clear  shining  out  in  him  of  the 
principles  of  right.  These  first  and  most.  He  is  in 
that  position  to  discriminate  between  right  and  wrong 
— to  give  righteous  judgment.  The  Bench  is  the  last 
spot  that  we  expect  to  be  invaded  by  passion  or  cor- 
ruption. When  the  waves  of  passion  sweep  over  a 
community,  threatening  a  universal  deluge,  then  we 
hope  to  see  the  seats  of  justice  rising  aloft  above  the 
waves,  like  mountain  peaks,  shining  clear  and  bright, 
with  a  transcendent  spirit  of  right.  We  look  to  them 
as  the  last  resort — if  they  are  submerged,  hope  dies. 

This  expectation  that  a  Judge  will  do  right,  is  not, 
in  most  civilized  communities,  disappointed.  There 
may  be  weakness,  prejudice,  misconception  among 
judges  as  among  other  men,  but  they  meet,  ordinarily, 
the  demands  of  their  position.  The  exceptions  stand 
out  in  lonely  and  terrible  conspicuity  in  the  history 
of  nations.  Bacon,  as  a  philosopher,  has  won  the 
plaudits  of  the  world — but  Bacon,  as  a  judge, — as  one 
who  tarnished  the  ermine  he  wore,  is  a  hissing  and  a 
by-word  ; — the  greatest — wisest — meanest  of  man- 
kind. Now  God  is  a  Judge,  and  shall  not  He  do 
right  ? 

He  is  the  Judge  too  of  all  the  earth.  Other  judges 
have  a  narrow,  circumscribed  field.  They  corrupt 
judgment,  and  a  District,  State,  Province,  suffers  tem- 
porarily, till  impeachment  or  death  removes  them. 
But  here  is  a  Judge  not  of  a  State  or  nation,  but  of 


160  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

all  tlie  earth — a  Judge  not  for  a  day,  or  year,  but  for 
all  time ; — the  Judge  of  those  who  lived  beyond  the 
flood — of  those  now  upon  the  earth,  and  of  all  coming 
millions.     Shall  not  He  do  right  ? 

His  position  demands  of  Him  at  least  right.  Right 
— right — this  is  the  first  and  great  demand — this  is 
the  granite  basis  on  which  all  government,  human 
and  Divine,  must  build  itself  up.  Right  first  and 
most.  Right  or  else  nothing — it  before  generosity — 
before  mercy — before  leniency.  We  abjure  and  dis- 
card a  generosity  that  acts  before  righteousness.  We 
must  have  this  first.  This  would  be  a  bleak  and 
unattractive  world  if  there  were  only  granite  clifi's 
raising  their  dark,  weather-beaten  heads  to  the  sky. 
It  is  no  pleasant  sight  to  sail  along  our  coast,  and  see 
those  frowning  battlements  that  nature  has  built  to 
set  bounds  to  the  sea  ;  but  what  would  the  world  be 
without  them  ?  And  so,  it  would  be  a  bald,  unat- 
tractive character,  that  should  only  have  one  great, 
all-ruling  idea  ; — right — right  at  foundation — right 
before — right  behind — right  around  and  above — 
nothing  but  right.  You  want  more,  but  you  want 
this,  or  all  that  is  graceful  and  attractive  about  a  man^ 
' — his  foliage  and  flowers,  is  of  nothing  worth.  You 
want  right  in  the  man — more  in  the  judge — most  of 
all  in  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth. 

MarTc  again^  the  peculiar  turpitude  of  one  with 
God's  powers,  and  in  His  position,  if  He  should  not 


THE   INTEGRITY    OF   THE   DIVINE   JUDGE.  161 

do  right.  Man  failing  to  do  right,  and  Deity  failing 
to  do  right,  are  two  very  different  beings  morally  esti- 
mated. Man  fails  to  do  right  often  out  of  weakness 
— under  the  pressure  of  severe  temptation.  He  may 
bend  to  wrong  as  the  osier  bends  to  the  blast,  and 
may  recover  himself  w^hen  the  blast  is  past.  He  may 
do  wrong,  not  for  wrong's  sake — not  from  pure  malice, 
but  from  impulse,  passion  ;  but  if  God  even  in  one 
single  instance  in  the  history  of  His  creation  does 
wrong,  He  must  do  it  out  of  mere  love  of  it.  He 
never  fails  to  discriminate  accurately  between  right 
and  wrong,  and  He  can  be  subject  to  no  temptation 
to  do  w^rong.  He  has  no  new  power,  no  new  position 
to  gain  by  it.  He  is  on  the  pinnacle  now.  He  can 
rise  no  higher — ^be  no  greater.  He  is  utterly  and 
eternally  elevated  above  the  temptation  to  do  wrong  ; 
if  He  fails  to  do  right  in  any  instance,  it  must  be  out 
of  pure  malice ;  so  that  he  is  as  much  worse 
than  a  man  who  should  fail  to  do  right,  as  His 
greater  knowledge,  power,  position,  and  His  entire 
elevation  above  all  possible  temptation  combined, 
could  make  Him. 

Consider,  too,  the  awfulness  of  the  contrary  suppo- 
sition— that  He  might  not  do  right.  Look  at  His 
power — infinite  :  look  at  His  position — the  Judge  of 
all  the  earth — having  us  and  our  destiny  entirely  in 
His  hands,  with  no  possibility  of  escape :  for  "  whither 
can  we  flee  from  His  presence?    if  we  go  up  into 


162  THOUGHTS    FOK   THE   CHEISTTAN    LIFE. 

heaven,  He  is  there — if  we  make  our  bed  in  hell,  He 
is  there — if  we  take  the  wings  of  the  morning  and 
dwell  in  the  uttermost  part  of  the  sea,"  His  right  hand 
is  over  us  to  grasp  and  hold  us.  Consider  such  a 
Being — in  such  a  position,  and  then  admit  the  pos- 
sibility that  He  might  not  do  right ;  and  it  would 
be  enough  to  cover  the  heavens  with  sackcloth — 
quench  the  light  of  every  star — muffle  the  world 
in  darkness — send  all  its  dwellers  shrinking  to  their 
graves. 

If  God  may  not  do  right — if  He  may  do  wrong, 
He  will  do  it  on  the  grandest  scale.  He  has  a  uni- 
verse for  His  theatre — He  has  eternity  for  His  scope — 
He  has  all  beings  as  His  objects.  'No  destiny  so  joyous 
under  such  a  condition  of  things,  and  yet  no  destiny 
so  utterly  hopeless  as  entire  annihilation,  for  if  He  is 
disposed  to  do  wrong  at  all,  on  whom  shall  He  in- 
flict the  wrong  but  upon  us,  and  how  shall  He  permit 
us  to  lie  down  in  insensibility,  when,  if  He  did  so.  He 
would  fail  utterly  of  beings  to  injure?  Upon  the 
very  presumption  for  a  moment,  that  He  might  do 
wrong  with  its  awful  results,  the  mind  swings  back 
with  a  peremj)tory  decisiveness  to  the  conclusion — 
the  Judge  of  all  the  earth  will  do  right. 

This  being  assumed,  two  or  three  inferences  will 
follow  :  And,  Mrst :  whatever  wrong  there  is  in  this 
world  God  has  not  done  it.  There  is  wrong — great 
wrong — done  to  thousands — millions.     Nations  have 


THE   INTEGKITY   OF   THE   DIVINE    JUDGE.  163 

been  crushed  under  it.  Its  iron  heel  has  trodden  otlt 
the  life  of  myriads.  Wrong  is  now  npon  the  earth. 
It  worries  and  devours  the  innocent.  Its  voices  fill 
the  air.  The  groans  of  its  victims  have  entered  into 
the  ear  of  heaven.  There  lie  in  ocean's  caves — there 
sleep  in  silent  burial-places  its  countless  victims  ;  but 
God  has  not  done  it.  No  one  can  bear  the  challenge 
up  to  Him,  and  say  He  did  it.  He  is  cl^ar  of  all  re- 
sponsible connection  with  it.  He  neither  has,  nor 
ever  had  anything  to  do  with  it,  in  the  way  of  origin- 
ating or  sustaining  it.  Be  the  soul  forever  swept 
clear  of  all  sly,  subtle  suspicions,  which,  like  birds  of 
evil  omen,  hover  in  its  outskirts,  that  God  has  done 
directly  or  indirectly  any  of  the  wrong  that  goes  to 
make  up  so  much  of  human  history. 

Second.  If  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth  shall  do 
right,  then  we  have  only  to  settle  what  God  does,  and 
we  may  at  once  pronounce  it  right.  We  need  go 
througli  no  extended  process  of  investigation,  we  need 
not  weigh  it  in  our  diminutive  balances,  and  see  if  it 
will  tally  with  our  narrow  views  of  right.  JSTo  !  once 
separate  what  man  does  from  what  God  does — leave 
us  the  doings  of  God  in  their  simplicity,  and  then  we 
may  put  to  our  seal  that  they  arc  all  right.  We  have 
but  to  ask  what  the  Divine  Being  does,  and  when  we 
liave  searched  it,  we  inscribe  right  upon  it  in  broad 
and  legible  characters.  We  may  not  be  able  alwa^'s 
to  see  how  it  squares  with  the  rule  of  right — neither 


164  THOUGHTS   FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

i^  this  necessary.  We  are  to  know  by  inquiring  what 
He  does,  and  before  it  we  are  to  sit  down  with  the 
simplicity  of  children.  To  mount  by  a  bound  to  the 
belief  that  He  does  and  will  do  right  in  all  time  and 
in  all  eternity,  is  one  thing ;  to  bring  His  doings  in 
their  vast  sweep,  in  their  infinite  combinations 
down  to  our  ideas  of  right,  may  I  e  quite  another 
thing. 

Third.  If  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth  shall  do 
right,  then  it  follows,  that  He  is  concerned  that  othoj's 
shall  do  right  within  the  limits  of  His  jurisdiction. 
A  judge  is  the  guardian  of  right  within  the  precincts 
assigned  him  by  the  proper  authorities.  !No  wrong 
can  be  inflicted  with  which  he  has  and  can  hive  no 
concern.  Now  God  is  the  Judge,  not  only  of  other 
worlds,  but,  what  now  more  immediately  concerns  us — 
He  is  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth.  All  the  earth — in 
all  stages  of  its  history — from  its  first  day  to  its  last,  is 
within  His  jurisdiction.  To  right  the  wrongs  of  earth 
is  His  work,  for  He  is  its  Judge.  No  one  can  escape 
Him.  His  authority  covers  the  earth.  No  one  can 
do  wrong  afar  off  upon  the  silent  sea — down  in  the 
dark  dungeon — out  upon  the  lonely  plantation — up 
in  the  secret  chamber — nor  in  the  solitude  of  the  heart, 
without  being  held  to  answer  for  it  at  the  Tribunal 
of  this  Judge.  No  wrong  will  eventually  go  unpun- 
ished except  through  repentance,  and  a  longing  hold 
upon  the  hope  of  the  Gospel.    There  is  indeed  one 


THE    INTEGRITY   OF   THE   DIVINE   JUDGE.  165 

covert  from  the  storm  and  the  tempest, — the  over- 
arching canopy  of  Christ's  atonement.  Flee  nnder 
it  and  you  are  safe.  Stand  out  in  the  open  plain,  and 
on  every  wrong-doer  shall  descend  at  length  the  gath- 
ered wrath — the  fearful  condemnation  of  Ilim  who  is 
the  Judge  of  all  the  earth. 


XV. 

THE  FIXED  HEART. 

My  heart  isjixed^  0  God^  my  heart  is  Jixed^  I  will  sing  and  give 
upraise, — Psalm  Ivii.  7. 

THE  heart  is  the  seat  of  the  emotions,  feelings, 
preferences.  It  rules  the  entire  soul  and  di- 
rects the  entire  life.  As  the  heart  is,  so  is  the  man. 
If  it  is  good,  he  is  good,  if  bad,  he  is  bad.  If  it  is 
fixed  he  is  fixed  ;  if  wavering,  he  is  wavering.  The 
heart  is  fixed  when  in  its  feelings,  its  central  choices 
and  constant  preferences,  it  is  settled,  firm  ;  when  it 
is  not  drawn  to  temporary  and  opposite  choices  ;  when 
its  whole  drift  and  current  sweep  ever  in  one  direc- 
tion. 

The  heart  may  be  fijsed  wrong,  and  often  is.  It 
may  choose  wrong  objects,  and  run  in  evil  channels, 
and  may  know  no  waverings  in  its  choice  of  the  evil. 
It  may  be  set  toward  the  bad  and  away  from  good — 
toward  self  and  away  from  God — toward  earth  and 
away  from  heaven  and  eternity.  It  may  have  passed 
into  the  chronic  state  of  earthliness  and  ungodliness. 


I 


MY   HEART  IS   FIXED.  167 

may  be  fixed  with  an  iron  rigidity  in  evil  which  noth- 
ing can  remove  or  even  start.  There  it  is,  the  same 
firm  thing,  changing  not  while  years  come  and  go,  or 
if  it  change  it  changes  only  to  a  sterner  fixedness — or 
a  more  settled  composure  in  worldliness.  Many  a 
man  of  earth  may  adopt  the  language  of  the  Psalmist 
and  say,  "  My  heart  is  fixed,  O  God,  my  heart  is  fixed, 
■ — to  earth  and  sin  so  fast  that  nothing  can  change 
it !  "  All  the  powers  of  the  world  to  come,  the  love 
of  God,  the  mercy  of  Jesus,  the  songs  of  heaven,  the 
wailings  of  despair,  cannot  unsettle  it,  and  turn  it  away 
from  its  objects.  It  is  awful  when  the  heart  is  thus 
fixed, — so  fixed  that  nothing  that  has  come  or  prob- 
ably will  come  from  God  will  alter  it. 

And  there  is  a  fearful  tendency  in  every  unre- 
newed heart  to  become  thus  fixed.  Things  work 
toward  that  end.  Many  influences  combine  to  bring 
it  about.  Little  by  little,  every  passing  day,  the 
heart  adjusts  itself  to  the  world — nestles  down  into 
it  as  its  bed  and  home.  Things  that  once  alarmed 
and  shook  it,  soon  shake  it  no  more.  Common  or 
startling  providences,  sudden  sicknesses  or  deaths, 
warm  appeals,  stirring  warnings,  that  once  sent  it  to 
a  sleepless  couch,  soon  jostle  it  not  in  its  fixed  centre. 
The  heart  is  fixed,  but  fixed  wrong — in  a  most  dread- 
ful stupidity  and  earthliness. 

But  on  the  other  hand,  the  heart  may  be  fixed 
right.     It  may  be  settled  in  its  preferences  for  good, 


168  THOUGHTS   FOR  THE   CHRISTIAJS^   LIFE. 

for  God  and  holiness ;  may  be  bent  determinately, 
once  and  forever  toward  these.  Amid  prevailing 
surrounding  worldliness  and  sin,  even  amid  the  shocks 
of  severe  temptations,  it  may  know  no  wavering. 
You  may  come  and  go,  and  it  remains  the  same,  ex- 
cept that  it  is  fixed  firmer  and  firmer  in  its  preferences 
and  choice  of  God  and  good.  It  has  a  settled  and  in- 
creasing proclivity  toward  good  and  away  from  sin. 
And  as  in  the  case  of  the  unrenewed  heart,  so  in  the 
case  of  the  renewed  heart,  there  is  a  tendency  toward 
fijxedness.  Things  in  its  case  work  toward  that  issue. 
It  is  under  influences  that  impel  it  to  a  settled  state. 
More  and  more  the  heart  of  the  good  man  works  its 
diverging,  discordant  tendencies  out  of  itself,  and  its 
tendencies  to  unity  into  itself.  It  wavers  less  and 
less,  and  becomes  fixed  and  firm  more  and  more,  til] 
at  length  the  good  man  can  often  say  with  the  Psalm- 
ist, "  My  heart  is  fixed,  O  God,  my  heart  is  fixed — ii 
the  love  and  service  of  Thee,  in  sweet  confidence 
Thee,  and  in  all  Thy  ways  !  "  It  is  a  great  and  bless 
ed  thing  to  have  the  heart  thus  fixed  in  the  love  am 
trust  of  God  and  of  good. 

The  heart  thus  fixed  is  cahn  and  peaceful.  It  hi 
taken  its  side  for  an  eternity,  and  taken  the  side,  tooj 
which  will  increasingly  satisfy  all  the  best  powers  oi 
the  soul  when  they  are  quickened  to  their  highest  ac- 
tivity. There  can  be  no  peace  while  the  spirit  is  un- 
settled, while  it  is  driven  hither  and  thither  by  hostile 


MY    HEART   IS   FIXED.  169 

agencies,  the  sport  of  conflicting  winds — now  con- 
quered by  this,  and  anon  by  that.  Not  infrequently 
you  see  persons  temporarily  occupying  that  point 
where  the  tides  of  influence  from  the  two  opposite 
worlds  meet  and  conflict.  They  are  subject  to  both, 
and  yield  permanently  to  neither.  Sometimes  they 
are  drawn  by  the  current  heavenward,  and  are  tempt- 
ed to  abandon  all,  and  seek  Christ  and  the  salva- 
tion of  their  souls ;  and  then  they  are  sucked  under 
by  the  current  that  draws  earthward,  and  are  tempted 
to  yield  all,  and  choose  their  portion  here,  risking 
the  life  to  come.  Sometimes  one  is  kept  in  this 
place  where  the  two  seas  meet,  for  days  and  months, 
and  while  there  he  is  wretched.  But  the  heart  can- 
not bear  this  conflict,  this  wavering,  unsettled  state. 
It  demands  decision  one  way  or  the  other.  It  must 
take  its  side — ^must  come  over  upon  the  side  of  God 
or  of  the  world,  and  it  usually  does  this  very  soon, 
when  brought  to  the  point  where  it  must  choose  be- 
tween the  two.  It  chooses  God  or  the  world,  and  so 
reaches  calmness  and  peace  of  some  kind  by  its 
choice.  But  real  peace  cannot  be  gained  by  having 
the  heart  fixed  in  opposition  to  God.  "  The  wicked 
are  like  the  troubled  sea  which  cannot  rest."  The 
heart  must  be  fixed  the  right  way,  and  on  the  right 
side  to  gain  peace  that  will  last.  It  is  when  it  is  fixed 
in  and  upon  God  that  it  can  sing  and  give  praise.  It 
is  tuned  to  real  harmony  and  joy  only  then. 
8 


170  THOUGHTS   FOK   THE   CUEISTIAN    LIFE. 

It  is  not  till  the  heart  is  fixed  that  it  can  grow 
rapidly  and  constantly  ''  Unstable  as  water,  thoii 
shalt  not  excel."  There  is  no  increasing  excellence 
to  th$  man  whose  heart  is  unsettled — driven  hither 
and  thither,  now  yielding  to  this  object  and  anon  to 
that.  Excellence,  growth  in  good  comes  of  perma- 
nence. All  things  require  this  if  we  would  have 
them  grow.  The  trees  of  the  forest — the  plants  in 
our  gardens  can  only  grow  and  come  to  perfection, 
as  we  allow  them  to  continue  where  they  are,  in 
friendly  and  rich  soil.  We  pluck  them  up,  change 
them  from  point  to  point,  to  dwarf  and  perhaps  kill 
them.  So  with  the  heart ;  it  must  be  fixed  in  its 
choices — must  take  its  side  once  for  all,  if  it  would 
grow  more  and  more  into  the  likeness  of  Christ.  It 
must  have  time  and  opportunity  to  send  down  its 
roots  into  its  own  soil,  and  gather  succulence  from  a 
wide  extent  of  its  own  peculiar  domain.  The  heart 
that  is  unfixed,  wavering,  not  knowing  where  it  shall 
find  itself  on  the  morrow, — the  mere  target  of  cir- 
cumstance and  accident, — having  no  root  in  itself — 
no  power  of  selecting  and  retaining  its  position, — de- 
pendent on  outward  influence — the  slave  of  mere 
events,  cannot  advance  in  excellence.  It  is  the  bond- 
servant of  its  own  or  another's  whim  or  pleasure. 
It  has  no  choice  affected  by  truth  and  a  sense  of  duty. 
It  has  to  beg  leave  to  be  where  it  is,  of  fitful  mood 
or  passion,  its  own  or  another's.      It  ever  lives  upon 


MY    HEART   IS   FIXED.  171 

the  surface,  strikes  down  no  roots,  is  liable  to  be 
overturned  by  every  passing  breeze.  Such  a  heart  is 
doomed  to  impotence  and  babyhood, — can  never 
grow  to  man's  estate.  It  is  the  fixed  heart  only  that 
can  gather  strength  to  itself,  and  grow  up  to  the 
stature  of  a  perfect  one  in  Christ. 

The  heart  that  is  fixed  is  alone  prepared  for  the 
temptations  and  conflicts  of  life.  Goodness  of  every 
degree,  great  or  small,  cannot  escape  opposition  in 
such  a  world  as  this.  It  must  be  ready  to  prove  its 
mettle  and  power.  It  must  beg  no  simple  leave  to  be, 
must  borrow  no  indulgence  of  its  enemies.  It  will 
not  gain  it.  It  must  stand,  because  under  God  it  has 
strength  to  stand — must  exist,  because  it  has  a  right 
to  exist.  No  goodness  lives  because  its  opponents 
permit  it  to  do  so.  It  must  have  a  standing  here  for 
other  reasons  than  those  derived  from  their  kindness 
and  forbearance.  It  must  prove  its  right  and  power 
to  be  where  it  is.  But  it  is  only  the  heart  that  is 
fixed  on  God  and  goodness,  that  is  rooted  and  ground- 
ed in  the  truth,  that  is  prepared  to  meet  opposition 
and  endure  conflict,  only  such  a  heart  that  can  stand 
when  its  enemies  assail.  The  rock  in  the  midst  of 
the  ocean,  or  the  cliff  or  headland  that  juts  out  into 
it,  does  not  abide  in  its  locality  because  the  waves  are 
lenient  to  it,  and  calm  their  rage  when  they  approach 
it.  It  borrows  no  leave  of  them  to  stay  where  it  does. 
It  stands  there  in  lusty  defiance  of  them,  because  it 


1T2  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

has  power  to  laugh  at  their  rage.  It  is  fixed  on  its 
deep  foundations,  and  the  waves  of  centuries  may  beat 
against  it,  but  they  move  it  not.  So  the  heart  of  the 
good  man  in  such  a  world  as  ours  must  rely  not  at 
all  on  the  leniency  of  its  foes,  upon  their  indisposition 
to  attack  and  conquer.  That  rock  might  as  well  ap- 
peal to  the  forbearance  of  the  sea ;  or  the  ship  that 
rides  its  waves  might  as  well  send  out  its  moaning 
prayer  to  the  tempests  to  spare  it.  The  sea  will  rend 
that  rock  from  its  base  if  it  can  ; — the  tempests  will 
send  that  ship  upon  the  breakers,  or  down  to  un- 
known depths  if  they  can.  Between  them  and  the 
ship  it  is  a  simple  question,  which  is  the  stronger. 

And  so  it  is  a  question  between  the  regenerate 
heart  and  its  foes,  which  is  the  stronger,  all  things 
considered.  There  can  indeed  be  no  question  which 
is  the  mightier,  apart  and  alone.  The  poor  heart  of 
man  could  maintain  no  conflict  with  its  foes,  relying 
on  itself.  It  is  only  as  it  is  based  on  God,  and  relies 
on  Him,  that  it  can  stand  a  moment  in  opposition  to 
them.  To  them  it  will  owe  nothing.  If  it  ever  con- 
quers them,  strikes  through  them,  and  reaches  its 
home,  it  will  not  be  by  any  weak  appeal  to  their  pity. 
It  must  defy  them,  but  only  in  the  name  of  the  Lord. 
Fixed  in  Him  as  the  rock  is  fixed  on  its  deep  founda- 
tions— fixed  in  Him,  having  its  roots  struck  into  God, 
grasping  Him  as  the  oak  in  the  pasture  has  struck  its 
roots  deep,  and  sent  them  wide,  grasping  perhaps 


MY    HEART    IS    FIXED.  173 

some  giant  rock  beneath  the  surface,  thus,  and  thus 
only  can  it  stand  in  the  day  of  conflict.  The  fixed 
heart  only  is  prepared  for  the  great  battle  of  life.  If 
I  can  say,  '^  My  heart  is  fixed,  trusting  in  God,"  then 
am  I  prepared  for  conflict. 

The  heart  that  is  fixed,  will  not  only  be  ready  for 
all  sorts  of  opposition,  but  it  will  soon  be  compara- 
tively relieved  from  certain  kinds  of  opposition.  It 
will  soon  clear  a  large  space  about  it  for  action — will 
make  room  for  itself.  For  example  :  A  young  man 
of  promise  comes  to  our  village,  or  goes  to  a  distant 
city.  He  is  social  and  genial — ready  to  enter  into 
friendly  relations  with  his  fellows  and  with  all.  It  is 
not  known  as  yet  what  he  is  and  what  he  will  do, 
and  perhaps  he  scarcely  knows  himself.  He  has 
capacitie's,  but  it  is  not  known  how  they  will  be  de- 
veloped. Such  a  young  man  is  at  first  not  likely  to 
be  left  without  personal  solicitations  to  evil.  He  will 
not  be  left  to  discover  by  his  own  searching  avenues 
to  ruin.  Evil  will  be  brought  to  him.  He  will  have 
those  avenues  pointed  out  to  him.  He  will  be  im- 
portuned on  this  hand  and  on  that.  'Now  if  his  heart 
wavers,  and  is  known  to  do  so,  he  will  be  plied  all  the 
more  vigorously.  The  attacks  will  be  frequent  and 
powerful  in  proportion  as  he  is  supposed  to  vacillate, 
to  have  an  unsettled  mind  with  respect  to  such  solici- 
tations. But  let  it  be  found  as  the  result  of  experi- 
ment that  his  heart  is  fixed  in  the  love  of  sobriety. 


174  THOUGHTS   FOR   THE   CHEISTIAN   LIFE. 

purity,  and  virtue ;  that  nothing  can  start  him  from 
his  integrity,  and  soon  he  will  cease  to  be  annoyed. 
Evil  companions  will  depart  from  him.  They  come 
and  find  nothing  in  him,  and  they  will  soon  cease  to 
solicit  him.  His  heart  is  fixed.  And  this  is  but  an 
illustration  of  a  general  principle.  A  heart  that  is 
known  to  be  fixed  in  good,  will  cease  to  be  annoyed 
in  certain  ways  in  which  others  are.  Its  enemies  will 
give  up  after  a  time  certain  forms  of  their  solicita- 
tions, because  they  know  that  they  will  be  unavailing. 
They  have  been  so  often  turned  back  and  foiled,  that 
it  would  be  but  folly  to  repeat  the  experiment.  Such 
hearts  may  be  taken  into  the  sphere  of  other  experi- 
ments upon  their  virtue,  but  these  will  be  abandoned. 
"  Eesist  the  Devil,  and  he  will  flee  from  you."  Op- 
pose to  him  a  heart  fixed — settled  once  for  all  in  the 
love  and  service  of  God,  and  he  will  turn  back  dis- 
comfited. 

A  heart  fixed^  can  only  be  efiPectively  cooperative 
with  God.  A  fixed  heart  will  of  course  show  itself 
in  a  uniform  and  consistent  life,  and  will  thus  be  found 
in  the  line  of  divine  agencies — found  among  the  in- 
stiTimentalities  that  God  uses  to  advance  His  glory 
and  kingdom.  A  man  must  be  reliably  good,  reliably 
a  servant  of  God  in  evil  report  and  good  report — amid 
depressions  and  revivals,  in  order  to  be  used  of  God 
to  efi*ect  most  for  Him.  A  man  that  wavers,  that 
changes  his  ground  often  on  any  subject,  either  never 


MY   HEAKT   IS    FIXED.  175 

gains  power  at  all,  or  soon  loses  it.  We  will  not  be 
iDfluenced  by  a  man  wbo  cannot  keep  his  ground, — 
who  has  no  grapple  to  his  soul — no  anchor  that  sends 
its  flukes  into  eternal  principles,  that  will  hold  him 
amid  outward  and  even  inward  perturbations.  "We 
respect  and  will  be  influenced  only  by  the  firm,  the 
fixed  man. 

We  say  of  some  men, — we  do  not  know  where  to 
find  them,  and  perhaps  they  do  not  know  where  they 
will  find  themselves.  We  say  of  others, — we  do  know 
where  to  find  them.  We  may  take  a  journey  over 
land  or  sea,  we  may  be  absent  months,  perhaps  years, 
and  we  return  ;  we  ask  for  such  a  man — is  he  alive  ? 
is  he  well  ? — we  know  if  he  is  alive  w^here  we  shall 
find  him.  His  heart  is  fixed,  and  his  heail  being 
fixed,  his  life  is  fixed.  Others  may  waver,  may  yield 
to  passing  influences — to  passion — to  interest :  but 
him  we  expect  to  see  where  he  was,  far  more  surely 
than  we  do  the  elm  under  whose  shadow  we  reclined 
in  childhood,  or  the  rock  up  which  the  lambs  ran  in 
spring  time.  He  is  almost  as  sure  to  be  there  as  is 
the  star  that  glistened  over  the  roof-tree,  or  tlie  water 
that  shimmered  in  the  moonbeams.  And  being  there 
— fixed  firm, — he  is  a  light  in  a  dark  world  :  a  man 
to  walk  by,  almost  to  live  by  and  die  by.  His  heart 
is  fixed.  And  no  man's  heart  can  be  fixed  in  the 
right  place,  and  on  the  right  beings  and  things,  with- 


-176  THOUGHTS   FOE  THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

out  being  a  marked  man,  a  powerful  man.     His  sta- 
bility, if  he  have  nothing  else,  gives  him  value. 

A  fixed  heart  will  usually  be  a  glad  one ;  it  can 
"  sing  and  give  praise."  As  the  viol  must  be  tuned, 
all  its  strings  drawn  and  fixed,  ere  you  can  wake  it  to 
glad  and  harmonious  music,  so  the  heart  must  be 
fixed — its  strings  fixed,  ere  it  can  burst  into  songs  of 
praise  to  God  and  the  Lamb.  A  fixed  heart  is  a 
tuned  heart.  It  only  can  be  waked  to  the  harmonies 
of  the  church  on  earth  or  the  church  in  glory.  "  My 
heart  is  fixed,  O  God,  my  heart  is  fixed."  Let  us 
say  this,  and  then  can  we  add,  "  I  will  sing  and  give 
praise." 


XVI. 

THE    GLORY    OF     GOD     THE     GOVERNING    PRINCIPLE    OF 
ALL    LIFE. 

Whether  therefore  ye  eat  or  drinJo,  or  whatsoever  ye  do,  do  all  to 
the  glory  of  God. — 1  Coe.  x.  31. 

THE  Bible  never  prescribes  what  specific  things 
each  man  shall  do  in  life.  It  makes  no  inven- 
tory of  the  words  he  shall  utter,  or  the  deeds  he  shall 
do.  One  will  look  in  vain  there  to  learn  where  he 
shall  locate  himself,  the  profession  he  shall  prosecute, 
or  the  daily  and  hourly  duties  he  shall  perform. 

We  sometimes  long  to  have  the  path  clearly  traced 
in  which  we  shall  walk — for  some  record  in  the  heavens 
above,  or  in  the  earth  beneath,  which  will  easily  and 
without  doubt  or  danger  of  misapprehension  on  our 
part,  assure  us  of  the  right  course  in  every  exigency. 
But  on  mature  reflection,  we  can  see  that  while  this 
would  be  the  easiest,  it  would  not  be  the  best  thing. 
If  we  could  resort  in  every  question  of  difficulty  to 
some  book  or  some  oracle,  and  by  a  mere  glance  or 
query,  infallibly  solve  our  difficulty  and  determinately 
settle  the  thing  we  were  to  do,  it  might  diminish  the 
8* 


178  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

dangers  of  life,  but  only  by  diminishing  its  dignity 
and  importance.  It  would  settle  our  doubts  only  by 
removing  tlie  necessity  of  balancing  opposite  reasons 
— sharpening  and  developing  our  faculties  amid  con- 
flicting influences,  and  thus  elevating  our  entire  na- 
tures. It  would  reduce  us  to  perpetual  childhood, 
and  we  should  be  only  free  from  danger  by  the  loss 
of  our  true  manhood.  This  is  developed  as  much  by 
the  effort  to  decide  what  we  shall  do  in  life,  and  where 
we  shall  do  it,  as  it  is  in  doing  it  when  we  have  once 
decided.  We  need  each  and  all  of  us  the  discipline 
which  is  gained  by  determining  what  we  shall  do  all 
our  days  and  every  day.  There  is  not  a  person  upon 
the  footstool  of  God  who  might  not  have  been  made 
a  stronger  being  intellectually  and  morally,  by  bring- 
ing all  his  powers  to  the  decision  of,  the  question, 
what  he  should  do  in  all  the  hours  of  this  holy  day — 
where  he  should  go — what,  in  a  word,  stern  and  un- 
compromising duty  required  him  to  do.  We  must,  in 
life's  beginning  and  all  through  it,  be  bringing  all 
our  powers  to  determine  what  we  should  do,  to  get 
our  life  in  each  section  of  it,  and  through  its  entire 
course,  into  union  with  God's  will  with  respect  to  us. 
A  good  man,  we  believe,  will  not  be  left  to  doubt  as 
to  his  general  course  of  life,  or  the  particular  acts 
which  go  to  make  it.  In  all  his  questionings  he  may 
expect  Divine  illumination,  but  then  he  is  not  to  be 
saved  the  trouble  of  using  his  faculties  in  deciding. 


god's   glory   the   governing   PRINCirLE.  1Y9 

No  Divine  word  will  stop  all  queries,  and  make  us 
mere  executive  functionaries,  instead  of  reasoning  and 
deciding  moral  agents. 

But  then,  while  in  the  Bible  or  elsewhere  we  are 
not  at  once  and  peremptorily  to  learn  what  we  are  to 
do  in  each  case,  yet  in  that  Book  we  are  to  learn  the 
great  principles  on  which  we  are  to  conduct  life.     If 
it  does  not  decide  for  us  what  we  are  to  do,  it  does 
tell  us  that  in  the  most  trifling  as  well  as  the  greatest 
thing,  "  whether  we  eat  or  drink,  or  whatsoever  we 
do,  we  are  to  do  all  to  the  glory  of  God."   This  grand 
motive  is  to  underlie  as  a  great  granite  formation 
our  entire  life  and  our  entire  doings.     It  is  to  bear 
them  up  and  sustain  them.     We  are  to  do  nothing 
which  we  cannot  do  with  it  as  the  great  controlling 
consideration.     By  doing  all  to  the  glory  of  God,  it 
is  obviously  meant  that  we  are  to  have  reference  to 
Him,  to  His  honor,  to  His  Law,  to  the  making  known 
His  entire  character  in  all  its  perfection  to  His  crea- 
tures.    Neither  self,  nor  our  fellow  men  are  to  dictate 
the  course  which  in  each  instance  we  are  to  take. 
We  are  not  to  ask  what  will  be  easiest,  or  most  repu- 
table, or  most  profitable,  but  what  will  please  God. 
Not  out  of  our  own  hearts,  nor  out  of  this  fallen  world, 
but  out  of  Heaven,  right  out  of  the  heart  of  God,  we 
are  to  draw  our  motive  of  action.     Our  text  then  pre- 
sents the  glory  of  God  as  the  governing  principle  of 
our  acts — of  our  entire  life. 


180  THOUGHTS    FOK   THE   CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

In  the ^^/.  place,  it  presents  a  werj  aimpU  motive 
for  life  and  action.  Tliere  is  nothing  complex  about 
it.  We  are  not  distracted  by  it.  It  is  to  the  life  what 
the  magnetic  pole  is  to  the  needle,  always  one,  and 
always  the  same,  and  always  there.  When  we  em- 
brace this  as  the  governing  principle  of  our  life,  we 
sweep  away  a  whole  mass  of  distracting  questions, — 
we  have  a  fixed  meridian — something  to  cast  anchor 
upon.  We  are  not  compelled  to  look  here  and  there 
to  see  whether  what  we  do  is  likely  to  please  this  man 
or  that ;  or  w^iether  our  course  will  be  more  easy  and 
agreeable  ;  whether  it  will  give  us  a  run  over  smooth 
seas,  with  pleasant  breezes,  to  an  agreeable  harbor  ;  or 
whether  it  will  put  money  into  our  pockets,  or  take 
it  out :  it  presents  one  simple  question — What  will 
God's  glory  require  of  me  here  and  now  ?  It  is  the 
one  question  ever  recurring — the  great  central  and 
all-controlling  question.  It  settled,  all  is  settled. 
(N'ow  there  is  advantage  in  this  simplicity,  and  there 
is  power  in  it. 

Secondly  ,  this  is  a  convprehensive  motive  or  prin- 
ciple. It  runs  around  and  embraces  our  entire  life. 
Nothing  that  we  need  do,  should  lie  without  the  com- 
pass of  such  a  motive.  It  includes  all  that  a  man 
may  properly  and  honestly  do.  In  and  of  itself  it 
does  not  settle  what  we  are  to  do.  When  we  act 
from  this  motive,  we  do  not  by  embracing  it  deter- 
mine our  line  of  life,  whether  we  are  to  preach  or 


god's  glory  the  governing  principle.       18  J 

teach,  be  a  merchant,  farmer,  mechanic,  or  anything 
else.  Other  things  are  to  come  in  to  fix  tliis.  What 
we  would  say  is,  that  this  motive  is  wide  enough 
\^  to  comprise  all  the  doings  of  an  honest  man  and  an 
^lonest  race.  They  may  be  all  sustained  and  carried 
on  upon  this  as  a  basis.  It  may  govern  the  whole 
of  each  life  and  the  whole  of  all  lives. 

Thirdly^  it  is  ?^  jo^acticdble  motive.  This  declara- 
tion may,  and  perhaps  will,  meet  with  a  good  deal  of 
scepticism  in  the  minds  of  some.  We  fear  that  it  is 
a  sentiment  avowed  by  some  and  felt  by  more,  that 
men  must,  in  order  to  live  at  all  in  this  world,  do 
some — yea,  many  things,  under  the  control  of  other 
motives  than  the  one  required  in  our  text — the  glory 
of  God.  It  TS  felt  to  be  too  lofty,  too  divine,  to  direct 
all  the  affairs  of  earth  and  all  men.  It  may  do  well, 
it  is  thought,  for  ministers  and  Sabbath  days,  but  it 
is  doubted  whether  it  can  be  carried  over  into  week 
days,  and  control  men  in  the  market,  and  in  all  the 
smaller  and  larger  concerns  of  secular  life.  It  is 
thought  that  it  would  hinder  a  man  from  making  as 
good  bargains  as  it  is  necessary  that  he  should  make 
to  maintain  a  fair  show  in  the  world.  It  is  at  least 
secretly  alleged,  that  one  would  find  it  quite  uncom- 
fortable to  be  ever  constrained  to  stop  and  inquire — 
"  Am  I  making  this  or  that  trade  for  the  glory  of  God, 
or  for  the  benefit  of  my  own  purse  ?  "  To  be  sure, 
the  adoption  of  such  a  principle  would  make  this  a 


182  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

very  different  world ;  it  would  revolutionize  the  whole 
course  of  procedure  on  'Change — in  the  store — the 
shop — on  the  farm — in  the  dwelling;  but  we  deny- 
that  its  adoption  is  impracticable.  We  deny  that 
a  man  is  compelled  to  ignore  and  abjure  this  princi- 
ple on  all  days  except  the  Sabbath,  and  in  all  business 
except  that  which  is  sacred.  A  man  may  do  anything 
that  is  just  and  right  under  its  control.  If  a  man 
wishes  to  do  wrong,  to  live  selfishly,  and ,  for  this 
world  only,  to  cast  off  the  remembrance  and  the 
authority  of  God,  he  must  indeed  discard  this  as  a 
motive.  But  is  a  wicked  life  the  only  practicable 
life  ?  In  this  world  of  God,  under  these  Laws  of  God, 
bound  to  the  Bar  of  God — in  this  life  so  fleeting, 
passing  on  to  a  life  so  lasting,  is  it  impracticable  to 
live  for  God,  and  to  be  controlled  by  a  regard  to  His 
glory  ?  It  is  all  a  mistake — it  is  all  a  device  of  the 
Evil  one,  coined  in  his  wicked  heart,  and  circulated 
by  his  followers,  that  it  is  impracticable,  that  we 
should  not  get  on  in  life,  should  we  live  and  act  for 
the  glory  of  God.  Its  simplicity  makes  it  practicable, 
its  comprehensiveness  makes  it  so,  and  its  intrinsic 
rightfulness  makes  it  so. 

Fourthly^  this  motive  gives  dignity  and  value,  to 
life,  to  life  whereever  it  is  cast  and  in  whatsoever  em- 
ployment it  is  spent.  I  would  not  deny  that  there  are 
positions,  callings,  employments,  which  are  intrinsi- 
cally more  elevated  than  others,  and  which  it  might 


god's  glory  the  governing  trinciple.       183 

be  proper  for  us  to  seek  more  than  others,  just  as  be- 
tween gifts,  we  have  an  apostolic  direction  to  covet 
earnestly  those  which  are  best.  Yet  every  honorable 
calling  derives  dignity  from  the  man  and  his  motive. 
In  our  complex  life,  in  a  world  of  such  diversity  in 
pursuit,  where  the  existence  and  happiness  of  all  are 
so  dependent  upon  the  prosecution  of  so  many  call- 
ings, we  must  occupy  different  positions.  We  cannot 
all  be  equally  elevated  and  equally  noticed.  In  such 
a  world,  and  with  such  narrow  minds  as  ours,  it  seems 
necessary  that  a  part  should  be  placed  where  they 
will  be  little  noticed,  and  little  talked  of,  even  though 
they  may  be  equally  or  even  more  useful.  In  a  build- 
ing, it  is  the  superstructure,  not  the  foundation — in  a 
tree,  it  is  the  foliage  and  the  fruit,  and  not  the  roots, 
that  attract  notice  and  admiration ;  yet  the  foundation 
and  the  roots  have  their  value.  So  in  society,  it  is 
not  all,  but  a  part,  who  win  the  notice  and  the  ap- 
plause. Things  are  in  such  a  dishevelled  state  here, 
that  it  is  quite  impossible  for  each  to  gain  his  own 
specific  portion  of  attention  and  reward. 

And  indeed,  if  we  will  look  at  the  matter  more 
interiorly,  we  shall  find  that  the  great  ground  plan  of 
this  universe  is  not  formed  on  any  such  idea.  It  is 
not  intended  to  give  notoriety  and  attention  to  the 
indi\ddual.  Each  is  made  for  all.  Each  has  his  facul- 
ties and  calling  assigned  him  with  reference  to  all. 
Each  is  put  here  or  there,  not  for  his  sake  mainly,  but 


184  THOUGHTS   FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

for  the  sake  of  all.  Society,  tlie  entire  race,  was  in- 
tended to  act  as  a  unit  toward  one  end.  It  is  an 
organism.  Part  is  articulated  with  part.  It  is  a 
body  having  one  life,  and  each  man  is  fulfilKng  his 
function  and  deriving  his  highest  enjoyment,  when, 
as  a  member,  he  is  fitted  into  and  lovingly  works  in 
his  place.  This  all-comprehensive  motive — living 
for  the  glory  of  God,  will  put  and  keep  him  in  his 
place.  He  will  not  desire  or  live  to  be  noticed,  any 
more  than  the  diflferent  members  of  the  body  live  to 
be  noticed.  He  will  live  for  the  whole  under  the 
pressure  of  this  motive,  and  in  doing  so,  his  life  is 
traly  dignified  and  valuable. 

It  is  a  great  mistake  into  which  we  fall — so  many 
of  us — that  of  supposing  that  in  order  to  have  dignity 
and  value  as  a  man,  we  must  pursue  this  calling  rather 
than  that ; — that  if  we  do  not,  we  are  clean  gone  for- 
ever— that  we  are  no  more  valuable  or  valued,  and 
that  all  significance  is  eliminated  from  life.  Many  a 
youth  is  crowded  full  with  the  thought,  that  if  he  can 
only  leave  his  father's  farm  and  stand  behind  a  city 
counter,  he  is  made ;  that  a  leap  from  the  farm  be- 
hind the  counter,  elevates  him  from  henceforth  ;  that 
buckram  and  broadcloth  will  put  the  dignity  and 
value  into  him  as  well  as  on  him.  Poor  simpleton 
that  he  is,  and,  for  that  matter,  that  we  all  are,  for 
the  young  man  is  only  following  out  the  ideas  which 
he  has  learned  from  us.     Why  will  we  not  all  learn 


185 


that  it  is  standing  in  our  lot  and  place,  and  working 
for  the  glory  of  God  there,  which  gives  true  value  and 
dignity  to  life  !  Yiewed  from  the  heights  of  yonder 
heaven,  a  man  has  no  dignity,  and  no  true  value,  who 
does  not  live  for  the  glory  of  God. 

I  have  but  time  to  add,  in  \h.Q  fifth  place,  that  such 
a  motive  as  this  can  alone  give  union  and  harmony 
here  on  earth,  as  it  can  alone  give  union  and  harmony 
in  heaven.  It  is  not  by  working  after  union  directly, 
that  it  is  to  be  won.  Union  is  secured  by  one  way 
only.  We  must  come  under  the  power  of  the  same 
motives  and  impulses — the  same  affections  and  pur- 
pose. Then  shall  we  flow  together  spontaneously, 
because  we  have  complied  with  the  law  of  moral 
union.  Without  obedience  to  such  a  law,  union  is 
not  possible,  except  by  physical  force ;  and  when  force 
is  employed  to  unite,  it  is  not  living  but  dead  things 
that  are  united.  A  living  union  only  comes  about 
by  a  love  to,  and  a  choice  of  the  same  objects.  Let 
all  men  live  for  the  glory  of  God,  and  all  men  would 
constitute  one  blessed  brotherhood. 

And  this  is  the  Gospel  in  contradistinction  from 
the  human  way  of  uniting  men.  This  idea  of  univer 
sal  brotherhood,  has  haunted  men  from  the  beginning 
Noble  minds  and  some  minds  not  so  noble,  have  dis 
coursed  of  it,  and  devised  schemes  to  bring  it  about 
This  idea  lies  at  the  basis  of  all  the  theories  of  the 
socialists  and  commumsts  of  Franco.     Unfortunately, 


186  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

tliey  discard  the  only,  the  Gospel  way  of  accomplish- 
ing it, — the  subjection  of  all  hearts  to  the  Law  of 
Heaven — the  glory  of  God. 

This  Law  is  to  be  adopted  by  ns  personally.  Each 
of  us  is  to  choose  the  glory  of  God  as  the  end  of  his 
being.  For  it  we  are  to  live  and  toil — for  it  we  are 
to  suffer  and  die.  We  are  to  strive,  we  are  to  pray, 
we  are  to  seek  the  aid  of  God's  Spirit  till  this  Law 
shall  be  the  one  we  shall  all  spontaneously  obey,  till 
it  shall  require  no  effort,  till  we  shall  obey  it  as 
promptly,  as  unconsciously  as  we  breathe. 


XVII. 

1|       FEAR— CONTROLLING  AND  CONTROLLED. 

The  fear  of  man  hringeth  a  snare  :  tut  whoso  putteth  his  trust  in 
II  the  Lord  shall  be  safe. — Ppoveebs  xxix.  25. 

THE  first  impression  of  tliis  passage  is,  that  the 
writer  refers  to  the  fear  we  may  entertain  of 
our  fellow  men — that  it  is  that  which  bringeth  a 
snare.  But  this  signification  will  hardly  bear  exam- 
ination. The  meaning  is,  that  a  man's  own  fear,  his 
o^\^l  timidity  brings  a  snare,  exposes  him  to  hazard. 
It  is  fear,  as  an  internal,  subjective  quality  in  our  own 
natures,  that  draws  us  into  danger. 

Fear  is  an  element  in  our  mental  constitution. 
We  should  not  be  well  made  up,  should  not  be  men 
without  it.  As  a  great,  silent,  unconscious  force,  oper- 
ating every  moment  while  we  think  not  of  it,  it  is 
our  shield  and  defence.  Its  healthy  action  is  miob- 
trusive — powerful  to  guard  us — to  hold  us  back  from 
a  thousand  evils,  but  like  the  heart  within  us,  doing 
its  work  without  drawing  our  attention  to  it.  But 
often,  fear  lodged  so  deeply  down  within  us,  intended 
to  act  so  silently  and  yet  so  forcefully,  breaks  over  its 


188  THOUGHTS   FOR  THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

boundaries,  overflows  our  entire  natures,  palsies  oi 
best  faculties,  shocks  them  into  inaction  like  an  eh 
trie  battery.  Before,  in  a  healthy  state,  it  acted,  if 
moved  without  "  speech  or  language,  its  voice  was 
not  heard."  Now,  its  voice  is  loud  and  piercing. 
Before,  it  was  a  defensive,  guardian,  conservative  pow- 
er within,  stimulating  us  to  higher  action.  ]^ow,  it  is 
dreading  difficulties,  and  hurries  us  into  them.  Thus 
a  man's  own  fear,  when  it  once  assumes  a  wrong  posi- 
tion, gains  an  undue  energy  in  and  control  over  him 
— ^brings  exposure  and  danger. 

This  is  the  sentiment  of  the  text,  and  illustrations 
of  its  truthfulness  lie  thickly  scattered  all  around  us. 
"We  will  consider  the  fact  affirmed,  that  fear  unre- 
stricted, fully  roused  and  controlling,  does  really  bring 
danger  ;  and  then  briefly  refer  to  the  method  of  prop- 
erly silencing  fear  to  which  our  text  alludes :  "  Whoso 
putteth  his  trust  in  the  Lord,  shall  be  safe." 

Let  us  take  it  on  the  lower  grounds  first.  A  man's 
fear  brings  him  into  danger  when  it  becomes  control- 
ling in  the  matter  of  mere  physical  exposure.  Even 
here,  a  man  who  would  walk  safely,  must  walk  fear- 
lessly. The  sailor  who  would  climb  the  tapering  mast, 
or  run  out  upon  the  yard  arm,  while  his  ship  is  heav- 
ing beneath  liim,  and  threatening  to  leap  like  a  mad- 
dened steed  from  under  him,  must  banish  fear  if  he 
would  go  securely.  He  looks  down — he  begins  to 
weigh  his  danger,  to  estimate  his  chances,  and  at  once 


FEAE — CONTROLLING  AND  CONTKOLLED.     189 

his  hangers  increase.  The  workman  that  treads  the 
roofs  of  lofty  houses,  venturing  to  the  very  edge,  doing 
his  task  so  securely  there  aloft  where  his  stature  is 
almost  dwarfed — he  alone  is  safe.  The  sleepwalker 
will  tread  the  most  dangerous  paths — will  stand  in 
the  most  aerial  positions  in  safety,  simply  because  he 
has  no  fear.  Let  him  awake — let  his  fears  be  roused, 
and  his  energies  are  palsied.  He  falls  like  a  weak 
infant.  A  man  without  fear  can  do  anything  above 
the  earth  that  he  can  do  on  it.  It  is  a  man's  fear  that 
brings  him  into  hazards. 

Apply  the  sentiment  to  common  worldly  affairs, 
to  the  making  of  money,  and  while  it  is  true  here, 
that  rashness  is  hazardous,  and  brings  many  a  man 
to  poverty,  it  is  yet  as  true  that  timidity  and  excessive 
apprehensiveness  keeps  still  more  poor  that  might  be 
rich.  A  timid  man  who  never  ventures  anything; 
wlio  never  sends  a  ship  out  upon  the  sea,  lest  she 
should  be  wrecked;  who  never  builds  a  house,  lest 
it  should  be  burned  ;  who  never  puts  stock  in  bank, 
lest  it  should  fail,  never  can  be  rich.  He  may  creep 
timidly  around  the  outer  edges  of  wealth,  he  may 
cast  furtive  and  greedy  glances  upon  it,  he  may  en- 
large his  desire  for  it — but  it  will  never  be  his.  He 
lets  his  would  wait  like  a  slave  upon  his  dare  no% 
and  so  he,  like  the  sluggard,  "  desireth  and  hath  noth- 
ing." A  wholesome  venturesomeness  is  the  first  con- 
dition of  all  prosperity.     A  man's  fear  brings  him 


190  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE   CHRISTIAl^   LIFE. 

into  poverty  as  surely  as  his  sloth  or  his  viciousness. 
Or  take  one  of  those  timid  men  who,  by  some  appar- 
ently kind  providence  to  him,  but  by  some  terribly 
severe  and  disastrous  providence  to  his  neighbor,  has 
inherited  wealth,  and  his  timidity  makes  a  strong  box 
into  which  all  his  dollars  are  thrust.  Ask  him  to  give, 
and  the  fear  of  poverty,  that  haunts  him  like  a  night- 
mare, clinches  his  grasp  of  his  gold.  His  fear  paints 
the  future  in  sombre  hues.  With  all  his  wealth  he 
is  poor.  He  is  a  miser,  not  perhaps  by  nature,  but 
he  is  made  so  by  his  excessive  apprehensiveness  ;  and 
many  a  man  with  stores  of  silver,  has  madly  been  his 
own  murderer,  for  fear  that  he  and  his  might  come 
to  want. 

A  man's  fear  of  his  fellow  men,  often  brings  a  snare. 
We  are  kept  back  from  doing  what  our  understandings 
and  our  consciences  demand  that  we  should  do :  we 
are  hindered  from  the  entertainment  and  the  expres- 
sion of  honest  opinions  and  convictions  from  our  fear 
of  our  fellows.  There  is  many  a  young  person,  and 
for  that  matter,  many  an  old  one,  who  is  deterred 
from  avowing  his  interest  in  religious  concerns  by 
the  fear  of  ridicule.  There  is  many  a  man  who 
would  be  a  noble  and  true  man — true  to  his  higher 
and  better  nature — true  to  his  best  aspirations  and 
highest  wishes,  if  it  were  not  for  his  fears.  He  dreads 
the  frowns,  he  dreads  the  loss  of  favor  or  patronage, 
he  dreads  the  poverty  which  might  come  upon  him- 


FEAR CONTKOLLTNG  AND  CONTROLLED.     191 


self  and  family.  He  dares  not  be  a  man,  because  of 
his  fellow  man.  In  his  closet,  in  his  better,  more  noble 
moods,  he  longs  to  be  a  man,  and  show  himself  a  man 
exercising  a  higher  intelligence,  a  stern  conscientious- 
ness, a  noble  Christian  freedom ;  but  he  leaves  his 
quiet  retreat,  he  comes  out  from  liis  contemplations 
to  meet  and  mingle  with  his  fellows,  and  he  dare  not 
meet  their  ridicule  or  contempt  or  alienation,  and  so 
practically  he  becomes  a  merely  conventional  man, 
I  taking  his  direction  and  ultimately  his  very  opinions 
from  others — begging,  like  a  poor  spaniel,  leave  to  be, 
from  others  as  poor  and  ignoble  as  himself — dragged 
down  by  the  leaden  chain  of  dead  conformity.  It  is  haz- 
ardous to  be  a  man,  and  so  he  ventures  to  be  a  thing. 
Many  a  man  who  stands  at  the  altar,  is  a  mere  crea- 
ture of  the  pews — above  them,  and  yet  cast  up  only 
by  what  of  force  there  maybe  in  them,  made,  shaped, 
moulded,  unconsciously  it  may  be,  and  yet  really 
by  others — daring  no  utterance  that  comes  up  from 
the  deep  places  of  a  true  heart,  till  he  knows  how  it 
will  take,  dreading  a  frown  from  a  pew,  as  he  would 
a  pestilence — vacating  the  rights  of  a  man,  the  right  to 
think  and  speak  for  himself,  for  the  paltriest  wages. 
There  is  no  country  where  public  opinion  has  such 
sway  as  in  ours.  We  are  glad  that  it  is  so.  We 
would  not  have  it  otherwise.  We  are  not  governed 
by  bayonets,  by  kings,  by  tyi-ants.  Public  opinion 
sways   everything.       It  makes   and    unmakes   presi- 


192  THOUGHTS   FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN    LIFE 

dents  and  cabinets.  It  sends  its  mighty  tides  up 
into  all  the  sinuosities  of  public  questions  and  in- 
terests. And  as  we  said,  we  are  glad  that  it  is  so — 
that  it  lifts  men  to  power,  and  then  casts  them  down 
again.  It  is  our  peculiarity  and  our  glory.  But  on 
the  large  or  the  small  scale,  we  are  not  to  allow  it  to 
assume  the  ascendency  over  us,  and  become  our  tyrant. 
Our  fellow  men,  singly  or  in  masses,  we  should  honor 
and  love,  but  we  are  not  to  vacate  our  power  to  think, 
conduct,  act  in  their  presence.  We  are  not  to  allow 
our  fears  of  what  they  may  or  may  not  do  to  or  for 
us,  to  sweep  us  away  from  our  integrity.  A  man's 
fear  of  his  fellows  may  make  him  a  very  slave.  It 
often  does ;  and  when  it  does,  when  in  the  narrow 
sphere  of  the.  church  or  the  village,  or  in  the  broader 
theatre  of  a  state  or  nation,  the  voice  of  the  people  is 
to  us  the  voice  of  God,  the  crown  is  plucked  from  our 
brow,  we  have  abjured  our  freedom,  and  sold  our 
birthright  for  a  mess  of  pottage.  Our  fear  has  caught 
us  in  a  most  fatal  snare.  When  a  man  takes  the  fear 
of  his  fellow  men  as  his  counsellor  and  guide,  he  is  no 
longer  a  free  man — with  a  mind  excursive,  elevated, 
true ;  he,  a  plastic,  fluent  material,  casts  himself  into 
earthly  moulds  to  be  shaped  by  them.  He  is  of  the 
earth,  earthy. 

We  have  so  far  spoken  of  a  man's  fear  as  affecting 
his  thoughts,  and  feelings,  and  course,  with  reference 
to  this  life  more  particularly.     We  have  seen  that  it 


FEAR — CONTROLLING  AND  CONTROLLED.     193 

brings  him  into  dangers.  I  now  go  up  to  the  highest 
of  all  concerns — to  the  formation  of  our  religious  opin- 
ions— the  adoption  of  our  religious  course — indeed,  to 
everything  that  appertains  to  our  connection  with  the 
beings  and  interests  of  the  great  hereafter,  the  invisible 
world ;  and  I  say  that  so  far  as  mere  fear,  mere  shrink- 
ing, trembling  timidity  controls  us  in  the  formation  of 
our  opinions,  or  in  the  adoption  of  our  course,  we  fall 
into  a  snare.  Our  religious  opinions  and  interests  are 
infinitely  our  highest  ones.  Tell  me  what  a  man's 
religion  or  no  religion  is,  and  I  will  tell  you  what  he 
is.  Nowhere  is  half  so  much  calm,  mature  thought- 
fulness  demanded  as  here.  Sometimes  in  awakened 
minds,  minds  that  have  been  rent  as  by  galvanic 
shocks  from  long-continued  stupor,  fear  gains  and 
occasionally  keeps  an  awful  ascendency.  Fear  sends 
its  own  messengers  into  the  vast  unknown,  to  bring 
back  their  own  tidings,  and  they  bring  such  tidings 
as  such  messengers  alone  can  bring.  Sometimes  fear 
with  raven  wing  broods  over  and  strives  to  encom- 
pass our  entire  eternity.  It  paints  it  all  in  the  most 
gloomy  colors.  Fear  shapes  our  God,  our  Christ, 
our  heaven,  our  hell,  our  Bible,  our  cTeathbed.  It 
shapes  our  religious  opinions,  our  entire  religious 
imaginations,  feelings,  and  life.  Of  course,  when  it  is 
left  to  do  this,  all  is  awry,  misshapen,  deformed.  A 
soul  left  to  the  dominion  of  mere  fear  in  religious  con- 
cerns, will  be  subject  to  hazards,  will  fall  into  snares 
9 


194:  THOUGHTS    FOK   THE    CHRISTIAN    LITE. 

terrible  in  proportion  to  tlie  vastness  of  the  scenes  and 
themes  on  which  it  works.  If  fear  is  a  bad  counsellor 
and  guide  anywhere,  it  is  doubly  so  in  religion. 
Eternity  left  to  be  shaped  by  mere  fear,  will  be 
crowded  with  terrors,  will  have  no  bright  spots  in  it. 
The  God  that  shall  be  enthroned  being  iirst  formed 
by  fear,  will  be  a  God  that  would  fill  a  universe  with 
dread. 

Fear  has  a  sphere,  a  fitting  sphere,  in  the  religious 
as  in  common  life.  In  all  well-balanced  souls,  it  is  a 
mighty,  silent  force,  but  in  religion  no  more  than  in 
anything,  is  it  to  overstep  its  limits  and  gain  the  as- 
cendency. Left  to  control  any  department  of  life, 
fear  controls  it  badly  ; — left  to  control  our  religion,  it 
moulds  and  controls  it  worst  of  all. 

A  religious  creed  that  fear  has  made  up,  will  be 
an  awful  one.  A  Bible  that  fear  interprets,  will  be 
a  terrible  Bible,  filled  with  thunderings  and  light- 
nings, like  its  own  Sinai.  A  religious  man  that  fear 
has  mostly  had  the  making  and  the  shaping  of,  will  be 
repellent  of  all  sweetness.  Religious  missions  or  enter- 
prises that  fear  has  started  and  carried  on,  will  have 
power,  but  they  will  be  sharp,  angular,  thundering  on 
like  a  steam  engine,  and  with  as  little  of  pity  in  them 
as  it.  Fear  in  a  man,  fear  consulted,  predominant,  does 
bring  a  snare,  and  plants  the  world,  God,  eternity, 
with  snares.     It  would  open  maelstroms,  and  sweep 


FEAR CONTROLLING  AND  CONTROLLED.     195 

in  its  victims  on  the  Sea  of  glass.  It  would  cleave 
yawning  chasms  and  pitfalls  right  under  the  great 
'white  Throne.  Not  fear,  but  love  is  the  guide  of  all 
life,  the  interpreter  of  God  and  His  book,  of  Jesus 
and  His  cross,  of  time  and  eternity,  and  fear  acts  as 
interpreter  only  to  mar  all  it  touches ;  and  this  brings 
us  to  the  refuge  from  fear. 

"  A  man's  fear  bringeth  a  snare  ;  but  whoso  trust- 
eth  in  the  Lord,  shall  be  safe."  The  timid  man  is 
among  snares  : — how  shall  he  quell  his  fears,  bid  them 
sink  down  into  their  true  and  silent  retreat, — how 
shall  it  be  done  ? 

Not  by  philosophy,  not  by  determining  that  he 
will  not  fear,  not  by  stupidity  or  recklessness,  not  by 
bold  and  ignorant  assertions  that  there  is  nothing  to 
fear  ; — not  so  are  our  fears  to  be  stifled  ; — not  so  are 
we  to  escape  the  dangers  into  which  our  fears  trusted 
as  counsellors  or  guides  will  bring  us. 

There  is  another  and  a  better  way. — "  Whoso 
trusteth  in  the  Lord,  he  shall  be  safe."  In  God  as 
our  refuge  and  our  eternal  home,  with  trust  which  puts 
the  soul  into  His  keeping, — trust  which  encompasses 
it  with  His  strength,  we  are  safe.  Out  of  God,  apart 
from  Him,  in  hostility  to  Him,  there  is  abundant  oc- 
casion for  fear. 

A  Godless  man  is  fearless  only  through  stupidity 
or  recklessness.     A  man  full  of  trust  in  God,  is  fear- 


196  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE    CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

less  in  the  exercise  of  liis  widest,  finest  intelligence. 
When  once  we  have  committed  onr  souls  for  time  and 
eternity  to  God  tlirongh  the  Divine  Eedeemer,  we 
have  nothing  more  to  fear.  This  world,  and  all  worlds 
are  safe  places  for  us  to  walk  in. 


XVIII. 

THE    EAKTHLY    BURDEN,    AND    THE    DIVINE    SUPPORTER. 

Cast   thy  'burden  upon   the  Lorcl^  and  He  shall  sustain  thee. — 
Psalm  Iv.  22. 

WE  come  into  tlie  region  of  true  manhood,  and 
we  come  under  the  pressure  of  burdens.  We 
can  escape  them  only  by  eluding  our  true  nature  and 
relations,  by  casting  away  the  crown  af  our  glory. 
The  text  assures  us  that  we  individually  have  a  burden 
or  burdens,  it  tells  us  what  to  do  with  them,  and  gives 
an  assurance  upon  compliance  with  the  direction. 

There  are  individual  burdens,  "  Thy  burden." 
The  intimation  is  that  each  person  has  his  own  bur- 
dens— those  that  legitimately  belong  to  him,  those 
that  he  cannot  innocently  cast  away.  These  vary 
with  our  constitution,  our  mental  scope,  our  locality 
and  diversified  relations.     No  two  have  the  same. 

Some  take  burdens  that  do  not  belong  to  them. 
They  go  out  in  earnest  search  after  them,  encompassed 
with  eyes  to  see,  with  hands  to  grasp  them.  They 
roam  over  wide  spaces  to  discover,  and  arc  opcn-doored 
to  welcome  them.     Before  they  knock,  all  the  soul's 


198  THOUaHTS   FOR   THE   CHEISTIAN  LIFE. 

avenues  are  flung  wide  open  to  give  them  entertain- 
ment. There  is  a  sui*prising  quickness  in  some  per- 
sons to  apprehend  and  to  fence  in  burdens  within  their 
own  enclosure.  It  is  as  though  they  dwelt  in  the 
centre  of  a  whirlpool,  and  all  came  sweeping  in  di- 
minishing circles  into  their  souls.  Now  it  is  well  to 
discriminate  here,  to  see  what  belongs  to  us  and  what 
does  not,  to  grapple  the  one,  to  hurl  clear  away  the 
other.  We  are  limited  in  our  capacities,  and  of  course 
we  must  be  in  our  burdens.  There  is  no  virtue  in 
being  busy-bodies  in  those  of  other  people,  in  going 
out  after  them,  and  seating  them  at  our  board.  "We 
cannot  afford  to  keep  a  hotel  where  other  people's 
cares  shall  find  food  and  lodging.  We  should  be 
willing  and  glad  to  entertain  onr  own.  Thy  hurden, 
— cast  it  upon  the  Lord,  not  others'  burdens ; — we 
should  take  our  own,  observing  well  what  they  are. 

I  am  aware,  indeed,  that  the  number  of  persons 
who  assume  more  than  their  share,  is  comparatively 
small.  The  multitude  act  very  differently.  They 
refuse  to  take  their  share.  They  are  quick  to  turn 
them  away  when  they  come.  They  refuse  to  enter 
the  paths  where  they  he.  They  elude  them,  giving 
them  a  wide  berth.  Tliey  go  tripping  and  dancing 
through  life,  never  rising  into  the  region  of  true  man- 
hood, because  they  never  take  up  the  responsibilities 
of  men.  Life  to  them  is  a  dance  through  May-fair  ; 
it  is  a  butterfly-flitting  from  flower  to  flower  ;  it  is  a 


THE  EARTHLY  BUEDEN,  AND  THE  DIVINE  SUPPOETEK.    199 

vapid,  meaningless  thing,  to  be  crowded  between  an 
insignificant  birth  and  as  insignificant  a  death  with 
as  much  thonghtlessness  as  it  can  hold.  This  class 
that  strive  wholly  to  cast  off  burdens,  is  a  very  large 
one. 

There  is  still  another  class  that  elude  their  own 
responsibilities  and  assunae  others',  going  away  from 
home,  and  even  entering  into  and  dwelling  in  other 
people's  houses,  their  own  burdens  all  rolling  off  from 
them,  hitting  them  perhaps,  but  certainly  glancing 
away  from  them ;  and  others'  cares  coming  to  them 
in  crowded  phalanx.  A  sign  might  be  put  upon  the 
souls  of  many  people,  "  Yacant  rooms  without  price, 
to  be  filled  with  other  j^eople's  burdens, — the  legiti- 
mate occupants  away  from  home."  They  have  no 
conscience  disengaged  for  their  own  responsibilities, 
because  they  are  so  crowded  with  those  of  others. 
They  go  flying  all  abroad  to  find  out  and  embrace 
their  neighbors',  and  have  neither  time  nor  space  for 
their  own. 

Now  ranged  between  these  two,  is  the  class  who 
honestly  and  in  the  fear  of  God,  knowing  and  feeling 
that  they  are  men  and  are  willing  to  stand  in  the  lot 
of  men,  see  and  bow  to  their  own  burdens,  not  taking 
more  nor  less  than  is  theirs  in  the  wise  ai)pointmeiit 
of  their  Maker. 

We  have  burdens  simply  as  men,  under  the  Divine 
government,  immortal  men  beginning  our  eternal  ex- 


200  THOUGHTS   FOR  THE   CIIRISTIAIT   LITE. 

istence, — to  shape  tlie  course  and  determine  the  goal. 
We  have  personally  to  accept  the  responsibilities  of 
our  position.  We  cannot  commit  them  to  others,  to 
pope  or  priest,  to  parent,  pastor,  or  friend.  We  throw 
them  off  and  thej  will  not  stay  off.  We  are  men 
and  we  must  be  what  we  are  made.  We  must  take 
our  nature  as  it  is  with  its  tasks  and  its  duties  and  its 
infinite  issues.  Being  men,  we  cannot  be  beasts.  The 
burden  of  preparation  for  a  life  with  God  is  on  each, 
inwrought  into  him,  not  by  possibility  separable  from 
him.  It  is  the  great,  the  common  burden,  putting 
us  on  a  level, — amid  our  endless  diversities  of  gifts 
and  position,  substantially  uniting  us.  No  thought- 
lessness, no  self-assumed  duties,  no  entanglements  of 
earth,  no  flight,  no  outside  affairs,  can  relieve  us  from 
it.  Till  God  unmakes  us,  this  is  the  great  common 
burden  resting  on  our  souls,  like  the  air  upon  our 
bodies, — this  of  preparation  for  the  life  that  is  to  be. 

Then  apart  from  these  burdens  that  rest  upon  us 
in  our  individuality,  there  are  those  that  devolve  upon 
us  in  our  relations  to  others.  We  are  parents,  and 
we  have  burdens  as  such,  the  burden  of  young  fresh 
life  that  has  sprung  from  us — our  souls  and  our  bodies, 
that  we  are  to  nourish  and  shape  ;  life  for  whose  trick- 
ling thought  and  feeling  and  purpose  and  taste,  we 
are  to  dig  channels,  and  send  on  their  way  toward 
the  great  sea.  These  burdens  are  sweetened  and  made 
precious  by  our  love,  but  they  are  great  and  they  are 


THE  EARTHLY  BURDEN,  AND  THE  DIVINE  SUPrOllTEli.     201 

ours.  We  cannot  delegate  them  to  teachers  or  pastors. 
Thej  are  made  ours,  by  our  nature  and  our  relations. 

Then  there  are  other  burdens  as  patriots.  We  are 
interlinked  with  our  fellow  countrymen,  our  children 
are  to  be  sent  into  the  future,  we  have  stakes  in  our 
country  that  is,  and  that  is  to  be,  in  all  that  affects  its 
weal  or  woe,  in  its  unity,  its  peace,  its  true  glory. 
What  it  is  affects  us,  what  it  is  to  be  affects  us.  It 
is  safe, — it  rises  to  a  higher  and  nobler  position,  casts 
on  the  canvas  of  the  future  a  horoscope  of  an  exceed- 
ing greatness,  and  we  are  glad.  It  is  exposed,  its 
glory  is  eclipsed,  it  is  rent  and  torn  by  intestine  feuds, 
and  we  are  sad.  When  our  country  is  in  danger,  we 
cannot  dwell  in  the  centre  of  indifference,  cherishing 
the  spirit  of  heedlessness,  careless  what  happens  if  we 
can  escape  from  the  wreck.  In  such  times  as  the 
present  especially,  the  burden  will  come  home  to  us, 
and  we  should  feel  that  we  were  less  than  men  if  we 
should  desire  to  elude  it. 

We  have  burdens  as  Christians.  We  send  our 
thoughts  and  sympathies  out  over  our  neighborhoods, 
towns,  states,  nation,  the  world.  What  we  see,  what 
we  hear  affects  us.  Our  very  sympathies  that  make 
us  men,  as  they  fly  abroad  and  brood  over  our  fellows, 
gather  in  burdens  that  come  home  as  they  return  and 
rest  with  us.  We  can  shake  them  off  only  as  we 
deaden  our  hearts,  and  this  wo  feel  is  eluding  them 
at  too  great  an  expense.     We  arc  not  willing  to  be 


202  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

unfeeling  for  the  sake  of  being  free  from  burdens, 
any  more  than  we  are  willing  to  be  blind  for  the  sake 
of  escaping  the  unpleasant  sights  that  greet  us,  or 
deaf  for  the  sake  of  avoiding  the  grating  discords 
that  strike  the  ear.  What  well-equipped,  well-trained 
spirits  gather  in  and  bring  home  on  their  excursions 
into  the  realm  of  manhood  and  the  wider  realm  of 
God,  that  they  must  be  content  to  take.  "We  must 
receive  and  assume  our  own  burdens. 

But  having  taken  them,  let  us  inquire  what  we 
are  to  do  with  them,  all  sorts  and  all  degrees  of  them. 
The  text  tells  us :  "  cast  thy  burden — hurdens — on  the 
Lord."  Observe,  we  are  to  take  them,  not  flee  from 
them,  not  say  they  are  not  ours  and  we  will  not  have 
them.  This  will  not  do.  Cast  them  upon  the  Lord 
before  we  assume  them,  before  we  feel  their  weight 
pressing  us  down,  feeling  and  saying  that  they  are 
His  and  not  ours  !  Not  so  at  all,  but  taking  them  all 
home,  stretching  ourselves  to  embrace  them,  feeling 
their  weight,  and  then  after  they  have  become  ours 
by  actual  adoption,  casting  them  on  the  Lord.  It  is 
a  very  fine  elusion  of  our  manhood  to  see  burdens 
coming  like  clouds  with  their  dark  banners  all  spread 
abroad,  and  then  darting  out  of  the  way ;  saying  they 
belong  to  some  one  else,  belong  to  God.  This  is 
miserable  poltroonery,  to  cast  aside  and  away  a  bur- 
den that  seems  too  heavy  for  us  before  we  even  feel  it. 
It  is  the  burden  that  we  grasp  as  with  hooks  of  steel, 


THE  EAKTHLY  BURDEN,  AND  THE  DIVINE  SUrPORTEK.     203 

the  burden  that  we  pile  up  on  our  own  souls,  and 
whose  full  pressure  we  realize  bj  making  it  our  own, 
that  we  are  invited  to  cast  on  the  Lord  ;  not  the  one 
we  have  shirked  and  skipped  lightly  out  of  the  w\av  of 
as  it  has  passed  by.  "  Cast  thy  burden  " — the  one  that 
you  have  made  yours  actually,  cast  it  upon  the  Lord. 
All  life  affords  us  analogies  operating  in  this  di- 
rection. We  all  take  burdens  that  we  feel  incomj)e- 
tent  to  bear,  that  we  are  incompetent  to  bear.  The 
relations  of  life  are  established  that  we  through  them 
may  gain  relief  from  them.  The  husband  is  abroad, 
engaged  in  business,  gets  entangled  in  its  meshes,  be- 
comes harassed,  perplexed,  knows  not  whither  to  turn. 
He  gets  little  relief  abroad.  Debts  annoy,  bankruptcy 
scowls  on  him.  He  goes  home  weary  and  worn,  sad 
and  disconsolate.  He  tells  his  wife,  he  lays  his  strong 
business  soul  on  her  weakness,  wraps  that  distem- 
pered, anxious  heart  of  his  in  the  drapery  of  her 
affections,  and  on  her  sweet  smile  his  shadows  float 
away.  He  has  cast  his  burden  upon  the  angel  of  the 
house.  Perhaps  the  prattle  of  a  sweet  babe  is  the 
escape-valve  of  his  solicitudes.  Many  a  child  witli 
its  tiny  shoulders  bears  off*,  like  the  victim  of  the  Jew- 
ish economy  into  a  land  not  inhabited,  the  burdens 
of  a  w^eary  heart.  We  are  always  availing  ourselves 
of  the  tender  relations  of  life  to  cast  oft'  our  burdens. 
A  care  shared  by  a  sympathetic  spirit  that  really  feels 
with  and  fur  us,  is  half  taken  away. 


204  THOUGHTS   FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

*'  I  loved  the  weight  I  had  to  bear 
Because  it  needed  help  of  love. 
Nor  could  I  weary,  heart  or  limb, 

When  mighty  love  would  cleave  in  twain 

The  lading  of  a  single  pain, 
And  part  it,  giving  half  to  Him." 

God  has  given  us  tliese  tender  relations,  these 
angels  of  our  homes,  and  circles  of  friendship,  not  to 
shut  out  Himself,  but  dimlj  to  prefigure  our  higher 
relationship  to  Him,  and  to  set  forth  our  higher  privi- 
lege of  sharing  our  burdens  with  Him.  He  is  ever 
with  us,  by  our  side,  our  Almighty  Friend,  our  Divine 
Father,  imposing  burdens  upon  us,  making  us  feel 
their  terrible  weight  in  part,  that  we  may  gain  an 
impulse  to  come  to  Him  through  our  absolute  neces- 
sity. Cast  thy  burden,  whatever  it  may  be,  on  the 
Lord ;  not  the  burden  that  does  not  belong  to  you, 
not  the  one  that  you  have  needlessly  assumed, — that 
you  are  to  cast  into  the  depths  of  the  sea,  cast  any- 
where ;  but  the  one  that  is  absolutely  yours  and  you 
feel  that  you  cannot  bear  alone,  cast  it  upon  the  Lord. 
That  is  your  privilege  and  that  you  are  invited  to  do. 

And  what  is  the  promise  if  we  thus  come  and  cast 
our  burden  on  the  Lord  ?  It  is  this — "  He  shall  sus- 
tain thee."  You  will  observe  the  pith  of  the  promise. 
Cast  thy  burden  on  the  Lord, — and  what  then  ?  He 
will  take  the  burden,  relieve  thee  wholly  of  it,  bear 
it  all  Himself,  and  send  thee  away  free  and  light  % 


THE  EARTHLY  BUKDEN,  AND  THE  DIVINE  SUPPOllTER.     205 

Not  SO  at  all.  That  would  be  no  real  blessing  to  us. 
That  would  not  make  and  keep  us  men,  it  would 
rather  make  and  keep  us  children.  Tlie  promise  is 
rather  this,  '^  Cast  thy  burden  on  the  Lord  and  He 
shall  sustain  thee."  He  will  not  take  the  burden 
wholly  away  from  us,  but  He  will  sustain  us  while 
we  bear  it.  He  leaves  us  witb  it  and  yet  He  helps 
us  while  we  carry  it.  And  this,  we  feel,  is  what  we 
want,  and,  on  the  whole,  all  that  we  want.  Take  the 
lower  relations  of  life.  When  we  cast  our  burdens 
on  each  other,  as  we  so  often  do,  it  is  not  that  we 
may  escape  responsibility.  The  husband  that  goes 
home  to  pour  his  weary  heart  into  his  wife's, — the 
wife  that  longs  for  the  return  of  her  husband  that  she 
may  lighten  her  burdens  by  his  sympathies ;  neither 
wishes  tlie  other  to  take  off  the  pressure  of  duty, 
neither  expects  the  other  to  take  his  or  her  obliga- 
tions and  toils.  The  husband  docs  not  desire  the  wife 
to  go  to  his  counting-room  on  the  morrow  and  con- 
duct his  business,  or  the  wife  the  husband  to  remain 
at  home  and  regulate  the  domestic  economy.  Each 
expects  to  remain  in  the  assigned  sphere  and  do  the 
assigned  tasks.  It  is  for  help,  for  sympathy,  for  the 
relief  that  comes  from  the  scattering  of  the  clouds, 
the  oiling  of  the  machinery,  the  impartation  of  in- 
ward sti-ength ;  it  is  for  this  that  the  burden  of  the 
one  is  cast  upon  the  other.  By  this,  true  manhood 
and  womanhood  are  preserved  and  made  stronger. 


206  THOUGHTS   FOR   THE   CHEISTIAN   LIFE. 

And  so  when  we  go  and  cast  our  burdens  on  the 
Lord,  it  is  in  no  vain  and  weak  expectation  that  God 
will  take  off  our  bui'dens  and  carry  them  Himself,  or 
send  some  angel  to  carry  them  for  us  :  He  could  only 
do  so  by  divesting  us  of  our  true  power.  Our  burden 
of  preparation  for  Heaven,  our  burdens  as  parents,  as 
neighbors,  friends,  patriots,  Christians,  we  must  bear 
still,  and  bear  on  to  the  end.  ISTo  being  in  the  uni- 
verse, not  even  God  Himself  will  or  can  bear  them 
for  us.     There  can  be  no  such  transfer. 

This  is  what  God  will  do  when  we  cast  our  heavy 
burden  upon  Him.  He  will  hand  it  back  to  us,  re- 
bind  it  as  with  rivets  upon  our  souls ;  but  then  He 
will,  when  He  recommits  it  to  us,  give  us  strength  to 
bear  it.  It  sKall  come  back  to  us  when  we  roll  it 
upon  God,  but  it  will  come  with  a  Divine  energy 
accompanying  it,  so  that  while  it  seemed  ready  to 
crush  us  before,  it  shall  come  winged  and  buoyant 
to  us  now ;  while  insupportable  before,  it  shall  seem 
light  now.  It  was  a  dead  weight  when  we  carried 
it  alone ;  it  is  a  living  and  delightful  one  when  we 
carry  it  with  God. 

We  may  not  escape  burdens,  but  we  need  not 
carry  one  of  them  alone.  We  may  have  no  wife,  no 
husband,  no  earthly  father,  friend,  to  share  them,  but 
we  have  a  Divine  Father  standing  by  our  side,  tender, 
amid  all  seeming  severity,  with  us  when  the  pressure 
is  heaviest,  inviting  us  always  to  cast  our  burdens 


THE  EARTHLY  BURDEN,  AND  THE  DIVINE  SUPPORTER.     207 

upon  Him.  TVe  shall  not  go  taskless  through  life, 
but  we  shall  go  with  the  feeling  that  oui\ tasks  will 
not  prove  too  absorbing,  our  burdens  too  crushing. 
God  will  not  take  the  crown  from  our  brow  by  as- 
signing us  no  burdens.  He  may  keep  us  to  our  dignity 
by  putting  heavy  burdens  on  us  ;  but  He  will  sustain 
us  in  them  all,  and  help  ns  to  bear  them  to  the  end. 


XIX. 

THE   CHRISTIAN'S    PRIESTLY   FUNCTION. 

We  give  thanks  to  God^  and  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesm  Christ, 
praying  always  for  you. — Colossians  i.  3. 

THE  word  and  here,  had  better  be  rendered  even. 
"  God,  even  tlie  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ."  The  God  of  the  Apostle  and  of  all  Chris- 
tians, is  not  some  unknown  and  unknowable  Being 
that  comes  to  us  in  name,  but  without  qualities — a 
mind,  possibly,  but  without  a  heart ;  stirring  our 
fears,  it  may  be,  but  not  our  hopes.  ISTo.  The  God 
that  we  have  to  do  with,  is  the  God  and  Father  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and,  therefore,  the  God  of 
all  grace,  apprehensible  in  Christ,  conversable  in  Him, 
passing  Himself  into  the  moulds  of  our  thought  and 
feeling  through  Him,  starting  out  of  His  darkness, 
coming  into  the  light  in  Him,  knowable  and  lovable 
through  Him. 

A  God  out  of  Christ,  may  be  the  God  which 
nature  reveals,  but  a  God  in  Christ,  is  what  the  Gos- 
pel reveals, — Christ's,  the  Lnmaculate  man's.  Father, 
and  through  Him  our  Father.     Christ  does  not  make 


209 


God,  does  not  change  a  quality  of  His  mind  or  heart. 
He  is  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  forever.  He 
did  not  make  Him  a  kinder,  more  merciful  and  placa- 
ble Being,  did  not  put  one  generous  and  tender  feel- 
ing toward  our  race  into  Him.  He  simply  revealed 
Him.  Self-revelation  is  one  of  the  highest  wishes, 
the  most  earnest  solicitudes  of  Jehovah. 

Neither  let  any  one  suppose  it  an  easy  thing  for 
an  infinite  Being  to  get  Himself  adequately  before 
His  creatures, — roundly  and  fully  pictured  to  them. 
Even  we  do  not  find  it  easy  to  get  ourselves  fairly 
before  another  self  to  whom  we  wish  to  be  known, 
on  whose  mental  retina  we  wish  a  fair  image  of  our 
veritable  selves  to  be  painted.  We  often  are  mor- 
tified to  find  that  after  living  beside  one,  and  perhaps 
with  him  for  years,  he  does  not  understand  us, — we 
have  to  explain  and  re-explain,  and  after  all  fail  to 
impress  our  purpose  upon  him.  If  it  is  so  with  us, 
it  is  sm*ely  still  more  so  with  God.  The  revelation 
of  Himself  is  the  most  difficult  of  tasks.  He  could 
not  do  it  in  nature.  He  could  not  do  it  in  language. 
He  took  a  different  method.  He  made  Jesus,  He 
poured  Himself  into  Jesus,  He  set  Him  up  as  the 
image  of  the  invisible,  the  intangible  God  ;  and  now 
our  God  is  the  God  in  Christ,  His  God  and  Father, 
and  our  God  and  Father  through  Him  and  because 
of  Him.  This  was  the  Apostle's  God,  and  this  is 
om*s.     "We  do  and  can  know  no  other. 


210  THOrOHTS   FOR  THE   CHEISTIAN   LIFE. 

Now  to  this  God  so  revealed  and  so  related,  Paul 
gave  thanks  and  prayed.  No  other  God  comes  into 
the  arena  of  our  thought  and  feeling  ;  no  other  elicits 
our  thanks  or  encourages  our  prayers.  No  other  God 
strikes  out  and  maintains  a  distinctive  personality 
before  us,  evokes  our  gratitude  for  favors  bestowed, 
or  draws  u]3  our  thoughts  in  prayer  to  His  Throne. 
No  other  than  the  God  in  Christ  announces  distinc- 
tively a  personal  good  will  toward  us,  a  personal 
thought  and  care  for  us.  The  God  of  nature  is  too 
remote,  uncertain,  hidden,  moves  on  too  lofty  a  plane, 
is  too  cold  and  isolated,  is  wrapped  too  much  in  His 
works,  is  too  little  apparently  concerned  for  us  to  stir 
our  gratitude,  and  surely  He  bends  too  little  to  our 
souls  to  give  us  much  confidence  to  pray. 

I  say  not  that  we  should  be  left  without  sufficient 
denotement  of  the  Divine  goodness  in  nature  to  elicit 
our  gratitude.  I  say  this  : — that  our  gratitude  would 
be  likely  to  be  as  cold  as  the  gifts  of  such  a  Being  are 
general  and  impersonal,  and  our  prayers  would  be  a 
dark  ^erhaps^  sent  on  a  hazardous  venture,  which 
might  gain  an  auditor  and  win  an  answer,  but  the 
thanks  and  the  prayers  ah'ke  would  stray  up  into  a 
vast  emj)yrean  to  strike,  we  could  hardly  know  where, 
to  bring  back,  we  could  scarcely  know  what.  A  God 
out  of  Christ  is  rarely  saluted  with  an  "  I  thank  Thee ! " 
and  rarely  pestered  with  a  petition.     It  is  the  God, 


THE   christian's   PRIESTLY   FUNCTION.  211 

even  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  that  we 
thank,  it  is  He  to  whom  we  pray. 

But  the  peculiarity  of  the  thanks  wliich  the  Apos- 
tle gave,  and  the  prayers  which  he  offered  in  the  text, 
is  this, — that  they  were  for  others,  for  his  brethren  at 
Colosse.   These  two  thoughts  will  claim  our  attention. 

First^  the  thanks  he  gave  to  the  Father  of  Jesus 
for  his  Christian  brethren.  He  had  heard  of  their 
faith  in  Jesus,  of  their  love  to  all  the  saints,  of  their 
hope  laid  up  in  Heaven  ;  and  hearing  of  their  Chris- 
tian graces,  his  heart  is  kindled  in  gratitude  to  God. 
Like  favoring  breezes,  the  news  passes  through  the 
chords  of  his  well-tuned  soul,  and  it  swells  up  with 
the  music  of  thanks  to  the  ear  of  God. 

Now  it  is  not  only  true  that  all  Christian  graces, 
that  we  may  see  in  our  own  souls,  working  there  and 
working  outwardly  in  our  lives,  stir  our  own  gratitude 
to  God  as  the  Being  that  begat  thqm, — they  having  no 
spring  in  our  fallen  natures  ;  but  what  is  more  to  the 
point  in  hand,  it  is  no  less  true  that  these  graces,  when 
first  meeting  the  eyes  of  others  that  live  in  commu- 
nion with  God,  and  are  on  terms  of  intimacy  with  Him, 
stir  gratitude  in  their  hearts  to  God  also.  Every  soul 
that  trusts  in  Jesus  with  a  childlike  trust,  every  soul 
that  loves  the  saints  with  a  pure  love,  every  one  that  is 
sustained  with  a  divine  and  immortal  hope  in  the  trials 
of  life,  every  one  that  goes  forth  to  do  Christian  deeds, 
every  one  that  gives  to  the  needy  ones  of  earth,  that 


212  THOUGHTS   FOE  THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

teaches  the  ignorant,  feeds  tlie  hungry,  clothes  the 
naked,  that  does  one  work  of  charity  ;  every  such  one 
not  only  sends  up  his  own  thanks  to  God  that  he  is 
permitted  and  inclined  to  do  it,  but  he,  at  the  same 
time,  puts  every  other  child  of  God  into  a  grateful 
frame,  and  inclines  them  all  to  send  up  thanks  to  the 
Father  also.  There  is  the  feeling  of  complacency  in 
the  person  that  we  see  doing  such  things,  and  cherish- 
ing such  feelings ;  but  there  is  also  the  gratitude 
which  we  feel  to  God  for  it  all.  There  is  a  double 
joy,  operating  manward  and  Godward,  a  twofold 
cord  binding  us  to  men  and  to  their  Maker. 

The  truly  disinterested  soul  is  gladly  responsible 
for  its  own  and  for  all  others'  gifts.  It  takes  the  light 
and  glad  burden  on  itself  of  thanksgiving  for  its  own 
and  for  others'  good  things,  for  its  own  and  for  others' 
graces.  And  this  is  indeed  one  of  the  tests  of  our 
participation  in  the  Spirit  of  Christ, — that  we  are  not 
only  grateful  for  the  blessings  conferred  upon  us,  but 
for  those  also  bestowed  on  others. 

The  heart  that  has  not  been  touched  by  the  Spirit 
of  God,  and  regenerated  thereby,  is  capable  of  grati- 
tude. We  never  allege  of  the  natural  heart  that  it 
cannot  see,  recognize,  and  be  grateful  for  Divine  bless- 
ings. Let  God  keep  filling  his  garner  with  plenty, 
let  Him  compass  the  worldling  with  all  pleasant  sur- 
roundings, keep  him  and  his  in  the  ruddy  glow  of  life 
and  health,  and  he  even  may  send  forth  his  thanks  to 


213 


God  who  lias  used  His  power  to  serve  him  so  well. 
If  God  will  use  Himself  and  His  resources  to  envelop 
him  with  good  things,  he  will  not  refuse  to  return  his 
poor  gratitude.  But  the  selfish  man's  burdens  of  re- 
sponsibility in  this  regard,  stop  with  himself.  He  is 
grateful  simply  for  worldly  good  in  his  own  circle, 
and  scarcely  for  that  outside  that  circle.  For  all 
spiritual  blessings  that  come  to  our  race  through 
Christ,  for  all  the  humble  i;rust  that  sustains  the  chil- 
dren of  God  in  the  dark  passages  of  life,  for  all  the 
sweet  Christian  graces  that  fill  their  souls  with  peace 
and  their  lives  with  goodness,  for  the  hopes  that  strike 
into  eternity  and  run  parallel  with  its  existence ;  he 
feels  no  gratitude  springing  up  to  God.  He  assumes 
no  responsibilities  which  are  loved  and  cherished  in 
this  direction.  That  others  trust,  hope,  and  are  glad 
in  Jesus,  and  live  as  disciples  should,  makes  him  not 
thajikful  to  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ. 

But  every  true  follower  of  Jesus  is  glad  to  recog- 
nize all  the  blessings  of  others  ;  those  that  have  their 
chief  results  in  this  life,  those  that  embrace  another. 
He  is  a  high-priest,  to  go  into  the  Holy  of  Holies  be- 
fore God,  not  with  the  blood  of  victims  to  make  ex- 
piation, but  with  the  incense  of  joy  and  thanksgiving 
ascending  from  many  hearts,  and  from  his  own  most 
of  all  for  the  good  conferred  on  others.  Ho  oft'ers  it 
there  before  the  Lord.     Thus  every  partaker  of  the 


214  THOUGHTS    FOE   THE    CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

Spirit  of  Jesus,  feels  a  personal  gratitude  for  all  tlie 
good  which  the  Master  bestows.  There  is  not  a  drop 
of  rain  or  dew  that  falls  on  the  earth,  there  is  not  a 
ray  of  sunshine  or  starlight,  there  is  not  a  bending 
head  of  grain  waving  in  the  autumn,  there  is  not  a 
scene  of  grandeur  that  meets  any  eye  and  steals  into 
any  soul,  there  is  not  a  lofty  thought  that  soars  above 
earth  and  penetrates  the  sky,  there  is  not  a  hope  that 
makes  earth  brighter  and  life  sweeter,  there  is  not  a 
quiet  Christian  example  that  is  lived  in  remote  ham- 
lets, there  is  not  a  broader  and  more  responsible  life 
that  as  a  pillar  bears  up  the  social  or  political  fabric, 
there  is  not  one  gift  of  God  that  crops  out  in  any 
human  soul  now  or  along  the  track  of  the  ages,  for 
which  he  does  not  feel  grateful  to  God.  This  burden 
of  gratitude  which  he  feels  for  others'  good  things,  for 
their  Christian  graces  and  lives,  is  not  a  burden  that 
presses  him,  but  like  the  weight  of  the  atmosphere,  it 
is  one  in  which  he  lives  and  loves  to  live. 

This  priestly  function  is  one  that  we  hardly  realize 
as  we  ought ;  this  obligation  to  feel  grateful  for  all  the 
blessings  conferred  upon  others.  There  are  hundreds 
in  this  city  that  have  been  the  objects  of  the  Divine 
care  and  of  the  Divine  bounty  the  past  week.  They 
have  been  in  healtli,  and  their  wives  and  children 
have  been  about  them.  Death,  sickness,  want,  have 
not  touched  them.  If  the  pestilence  has  walked  in 
darkness,  it  has  not  come  nigh  them.     They  have 


215 


had  blessings  and  abounded.  But  many  amid  them 
all  have  recognized  no  God,  they  have  bowed  no  knee 
in  the  family  morning  or  evening,  they  are  in  no 
sanctuary  to-day  with  their  praises,  they  have  re- 
ceived good  things  as  the  brutes  do.  But  what  then  ? 
Shall  God  have  no  thanks  for  the  blessings  sent  upon 
them  and  theirs  ?  Shall  these  bounties  descend  upon 
those  about  us,  and  there  be  no  returns  sent  up  from 
hearts  that  have  seen  and  recognized  them,  and  been 
glad  in  them  ?  Shall  these  persons  be  spared  and 
blessed,  and  these  homes  be  filled  with  health  and 
gladness,  and  not  a  soul  be  wakeful,  watchful  for 
them,  and  send  up  thanksgivings  for  them  ?  No,  my 
Brethren  !  We  should  have  our  eyes  up  to  mark  the 
opening  clouds,  out  to  see  the  falling  blessings,  the 
continued  health,  peace  and  life,  and  if  the  immediate 
recipients  have  no  thanks  to  send  up  and  back  to 
God,  we  should  catch  them  on  our  own  waiting  souls, 
and  send  up  in  their  behalf  the  gratitude  which  we 
feel,  but  they  refuse  to  give.  For  all  the  benefits  con- 
ferred on  man,  God  should  receive  thanks,  if  not  from 
others  that  know  Him  not,  then  from  us  who  see  and 
mark  them. 

There  is  a  sort  of  priestly  function  here  which 
every  Christian  sustains, — a  burden  of  gratitude  that 
others  will  not  pay,  but  which  we  should  be  glad  to 
pay.  Watch  for  the  manna  that  descends  around  the 
tents  of  others,  and  while  they  go  out  to  gather  it 


216  THOUGHTS   FOR  THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

without  a  thoiiglat  of  God,  do  you  take  up  the  delin- 
quents' gratitude  and  bear  it  to  the  throne,  so  that 
God  shall  not  be  without  some  incense  of  thanksgiv- 
ing for  all  that  comes  to  our  race  from  the  full  garners 
of  His  goodness ! 

But  in  the  second  place,  and  on  this  thought  I  can 
dwell  but  briefly, — the  Apostle  not  only  speaks  of 
thanks  given  for  them,  but  of  prayers  offered  always 
in  their  behalf.  We  are  more  prompt  far  to  fill  the 
priestly  function  of  prayers  in  others'  behalf,  than  we 
are  that  of  gratitude  for  benefits  bestowed  on  them. 
But  I  wish  you  to  mark  the  connection  here  between 
the  thanksgivings  Paul  sent  up  to  God  in  behalf  of 
his  brethren  and  the  prayers  he  offered  for  them.  It 
is  when  we  are  grateful  for  the  blessings  given,  that 
we  are  stimulated  to  ask  for  more.  Just  as  when 
we  are  grateful  to  God  for  the  good  things  He  confers 
upon  us,  we  are  more  likely  to  obtain  others  for  which 
we  ask,  so  also  when  we  gratefully  recognize  mercies 
bestowed  upon  others  by  the  good  hand  of  our  God, 
we  are  more  likely  to  obtain  the  things  we  ask  in  their 
behalf.  The  child  that  remembers  what  his  father 
has  given  him,  will  be  more  likely  to  obtain  more  ;  so 
the  one  that  looks  to  what  God  has  don^  for  others, 
will  be  more  likely  to  receive  for  the  asking  further 
benefits  in  their  behalf.  Looked  at  in  the  mere  light 
of  policy,  it  is  well  to  be  grateful  both  for  our  own  and 
others'  blessings.     If  it  is  legitimate  to  ask  for  further 


THE    christian's    PRIESTLY   FUNCTION.  217 

blessings  for  others,  it  is  surely  legitimate  to  thank 
God  for  what  He  has  given  them.  If  1  want  my 
brother  to  have  more  hope,  sweetness,  love,  generos- 
ity, it  is  well  to  acknowledge  all  that  God  has  given 
him  now.  Prayer  always  goes  np  with  a  power  when 
it  goes  with  a  recognition  of  what  has  been  already 
done.  This  puts  our  souls  in  a  kind,  receptive  pos- 
ture, makes  them  prompt  to  see  and  appreciate  all 
there  is  good  in  the  souls  and  lives  of  those  for  whom 
we  petition.  "  Lord !  thou  hast  done  such  good 
things  for  them.  We  thank  Thee.  Now  do  more. 
Thou  hast  brought  them  to  such  a  degree  of  goodness  ; 
thanks  be  unto  Thy  name  for  it.  Bring  them  to  a 
still  higher  degree.  Thou  hast  given  them  some 
holiness, — perfect  it,  and  crown  all  Thy  other  gifts 
by  the  gift  of  eternal  life  !  " 

Thus  thanks  and  prayers  go  together.  We  can 
put  our  souls  under  personal  obligations  to  God  for 
all  the  good  things  He  bestows  on  our  fellows,  and 
then  out  of  our  thanks  we  can  educe  an  argument  for 
our  prayers.  Prayer  flies  on  the  wing  of  thanks  to 
God  and  reaches  His  ear.  We  pray  powerfully  when 
we  are  heartily  grateful  both  for  ourselves  and  others. 
Let  us  perform  for  our  fellow  men  the  priestly  func- 
tion of  giving  thanks  in  their  behalf,  and  we  shall 
perform  that  other  function  better  of  prayers  in  their 
behalf. 

10 


XX. 

THE    GIFT    AND    ITS    USE. 

But  every  man  liath  Ms  proper  gift  of  God. — 1  Cor.  vii.  17. 
Wherefore  I  put  thee  in  remenibrance  that  thou  stir  up  the  gift 
of  God  that  is  in  thee. — 2  Tim.  i.  6. 

IE"  the  first  passage  we  have  a  fact  affirmed, — every 
man  has  his  own  peculiar  gift  from  God  ;  and  in 
the  second,  we  have  a  duty  inculcated, — stir  up  that 
gift  that  is  in  thee. 

There  is  a  gift,  my  friend,  in  you.  You  would  not 
have  been  here  in  God's  creation  without  one.  The 
fact  that  you  are  here,  settles  the  fact  that  you  are 
here  for  a  purpose,  and  that  you  have  endowments  of 
some  sort  to  consummate  that  purpose.  Find  them 
out  and  use  them. 

Let  us  dwell  upon  the  fact  affirmed,  and  the  duty 
consequent  upon  it. 

Every  man  has  his  proper  gift  of  God, — every 
man,  be  he  ever  so  humble,  ever  so  retired  and  rela- 
tively insignificant.  There  is  not  one  bearing  the 
form   and  lineaments  of  a  man   that  has  not  some 


THE   GIFT   AND   ITS    USE.  219 

special  gift  imparted  to  liim  by  liis  Maker,  some  gift 
that  distinguishes  him  from  all  others.  Some  stuff 
enters  into  his  composition  that  enters  into  that  of  no 
other  man ; — some  gift  that  makes  him  significant 
and  important  in  the  world,  and  in  the  universe.  Out 
of  the  infinite  resources  of  God,  something  was  taken 
to  make  this  man,  that  was  not  taken  to  make  that. 
It  marks  him  off,  parts  him  from  his  race,  makes  him 
a  distinct  and  immensely  weighty  unit  in  the  great 
sum-total. 

It  is  a  proper  gift,  just  the  gift  which  it  is  best 
that  he  should  have,  and  best  for  others  that  he  should 
have.  It  may  be  a  gift  for  speech  or  silence,  for 
thought  or  action,  for  high  imaginations,  for  lofty 
enterprises,  for  noble  endeavors,  or  for  holy  and  re- 
tired duties  ; — it  may  be  the  gift  of  stillness,  of  rest, 
of  patience,  to  sit  in  quietness,  to  watch  in  the  dawn 
with  God's  sick  and  feeble  ones ;  it  may  be  the  gift 
of  cheerfulness,  of  sunny  and  innocent  mirth,  a  gift 
to  lubricate  the  grating  machinery  of  life,  to  stir  glad- 
ness in  hearts  when  the  curtains  are  drawn  and  gloom 
presides  ;  it  may  be  the  gift  to  tend  and  care  for  little 
ones,  to  bear  their  foibles  and  fretfulnesses,  to  present 
a  velvety  surface  to  the  jagged  and  crabbed  inequal- 
ities of  little  or  big  souls  ;  it  may  be  the  gift  of  busi- 
ness ;  it  may  be  a  gift  that  runs  out  into  invention, 
to  devise  and  embody  in  tangible  forms  machinery 
that  will  the  better  help  on  the  race  in  an  advancing 


220  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE   CHRISTIAlsr   LITE. 

civilization.  It  may  be  a  conspicuous  or  unconspicu- 
ous  gift ;  it  matters  not,  it  is  a  ]3roper  gift,  a  good 
gift ;  it  comes  from  the  mint  of  God,  and  with  His 
stamp  upon  it.  It  is  good  for  the  purposes  for  which 
it  is  given, — on  the  whole,  just  the  best  one  that  could 
be  given  by  a  wise  and  munificent  Creator. 

God  had  the  residue  of  the  Spirit, — an  infinite 
amount  of  unused  creative  power,  of  material  that  He 
might  have  made  up  into  souls.  He  might  have  made 
you  larger  and  packed  more  into  you,  but  He  did  not, 
because  on  the  whole,  He  did  not  think  it  best  for 
you  or  others ;  for  you  as  a  unit,  or  for  you  in  com- 
bination with  others.  The  wisdom  of  God  was  exerted 
in  each  man's  construction,  and  in  the  original  qualities 
of  his  mind,  he  is  constituted  as  God  would  have  him. 

Now  this  gift,  this  special  gift  of  God  to  us,  be  it 
what  it  may,  we  should  seek  to  find  out.  "We  should 
use  all  the  aids  and  appliances  possible  to  discover  it. 
Our  life-work  will  not  rise  like  a  star  upon  us  till  our 
sj)ecial  gift  of  God  is  found.  I  do  not  say  that  it  is 
an  easy  task  to  discover  what  our  special  gift  is  ;  but 
the  matter  is  greatly  complicated  by  our  perverse 
ambitions,  by  our  sloth,  by  our  selfishness.  If  in 
godly  simj)licity,  with  receptive  hearts,  standing  in 
God's  light,  with  spirits  up  to  Him,  and  open  to  re- 
ceive His  inspirations,  we  would  seek  to  know  our 
gifts  that  we  might  exercise  them  just  where  and  as 
God  would  have  us,  we  should  find  it  less  difiicult  to 


THE    GIFT   AND    ITS    USE.  221 

ascertain  what  our  gifts  are.  "We  too  often  want  to 
do  what  we  were  not  made  to  do, — what  we  have  no 
aptitudes  for  doing.  We  range  out  of  our  sphere. 
We  are  at  cross  purposes  Avitli  our  own  faculties,  and 
the  Divine  plans  with  respect  to  us.  We  want  to  do 
what  w^e  have  no  commission  to  do,  what  we  cannot 
do,  and  what  our  fellows  do  not  want  us  to  do.  We 
are  out  of  line,  and  do  not  march  to  the  music  of 
God's  harmonious  creation.  The  world  is  a  jumble, 
and  we  increase  the  confusion  by  getting  out  of  place. 
We  want  an  easy  time,  and  we  find  very  hard  times. 
We  want  to  move  on  certain  wonted  grooves,  where 
we  shall  be  sure  of  many  eyes,  and  w^e  make  terrible 
work  of  it,  because  we  were  not  made  with  wheels  to 
fit  the  track  that  we  covet. 

Best  are  all  things  as  the  mind  of  God  intended, 
and  the  hand  of  God  ordained.  There  is  a  man  and 
a  gift  for  every  place,  and  harmony  comes  when 
every  man  and  every  gift  finds  its  place,  and  quietly 
abides  there.  We  shall  find  our  gifts  when  we  are 
willing  so  to  do,  and  to  fall  quietly  into  our  place. 
God  does  not  mean  that  any  gift  that  He  has  put  into 
any  man,  shall  wander  ofi"  not  knowing  where  to  go 
or  where  to  locate  itself.  We  shall  find  our  special 
gift  when  we  are  willing  to  see  it  in  God's  light,  when 
with  the  simplicity  of  a  child,  we  are  ready  to  say, 
"  What  am  I,  and  what  wilt  Thou  have  me  to  do  ? " 
God  knows  our  gift  and  He  wishes  that  we  should 


222  THOUGHTS   FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN   LITE. 

know  it,  and  He  will  lead  us  into  the  knowledge  of  it 
when  we  are  willing  to  use  it,  not  for  present  ease  or 
advancement,  but  for  His  glory  and  the  good  of 
others.  A  gift — be  it  great  or  be  it  small,  put  under 
the  leadership  of  sloth  or  unholy  ambition  is  sure  to 
err  and  come  to  no  good.  It  can  neither  know  itself 
what  it  can  do,  nor  where  its  proper  location  is  in  the 
great  sum  of  things.  Let  us  yield  our  gifts  up  to 
God,  consecrate  them,  lay  them  on  His  altar,  and  all 
the  light  of  God  will  shine  upon  us  to  elucidate  our 
gifts,  and  point  us  to  their  appropriate  and  fitting 
sphere  of  action.  Every  man  has  his  gift,  and  every 
man  should  put  it  under  the  leadership  of  God  that 
he  may  come  to  a  true  knowledge  of  it.  And  having 
it  and  knowing  it  as  best  he  may,  then  comes  the 
duty  enjoined  in  the  second  passage  in  our  text. 

Stii'  it  up.  Stir  it  up  to  work  where  God  wants 
it,  and  to  do  the  service  He  requires  of  it. 

Every  gift  needs  to  be  stirred  up  to  do  its  best. 
A  forcible  and  sanctified  will  needs  to  go  to  its  seat 
in  the  soul  and  grasp  it  and  bind  it  down,  harness  it 
in  and  impel  it  forward,  make  it  walk,  run,  fly,  as  the 
case  may  be,  in  its  appointed  circle.  A  gift  out  of 
harness,  left  to  itself,  is  vain  and  useless,  like  water 
running  to  waste.  It  enlightens  no  one,  helps  no  one, 
opens  heaven  upon  no  one,  shuts  the  pit  upon  no  one, 
m  ikes  no  man  live  a  more  blessed  life,  die  a  happier 
death,  and  spend  a  haj^pier  eternity.     The  world  is 


THE   GIFT   AND   ITS    USE.  223 

full  of  gifts.  Millions  of  souls  are  enriched  of  God 
with  the  most  precious  gifts  that  would  make  earth 
a  happier  place,  heaven  a  fuller  place ; — gifts  that 
would  exhibit  God  and  Christ  in  more  glorious  aspects 
if  they  were  only  stirred  up.  But  alas !  they  lie  in 
the  souls  of  men,  all  unused,  or  so  used  as  to  help  on 
the  sad  discords  of  the  world ; — gifts  lying  like  dead 
giants  in  their  graves,  or  alive,  but  running  athwart 
the  best  interests  of  society,  and  harmful  to  their  pos- 
sessors. "We  should  consecrate  our  gifts  and  then  stir 
them,  put  them  on  their  true  course,  whip  them  up, 
put  spur  to  them,  and  make  them  do  their  best.  The 
world  does  not  lack  gifts,  it  has  enough  of  them. 
They  want  to  be  stirred  up. 

The  complete  equipment  of  society  and  the  Church 
demands  that  we  all  stir  up  the  gift  that  is  in  us. 
Society  as  a  whole,  tlie  Church  as  a  whole,  a  society 
within  a  society,  is  an  organism.  It  is  made  up  of 
many  members.  There  are  gifts  in  society,  in  the 
Church,  to  do  the  work  of  both.  God  did  not  make 
any  man  to  be  complete  in  himself,  but  in  his  fellows. 
All  for  each  and  each  for  all.  'No  man  is  his  own. 
No  man's  gift  is  his  own  to  be  used  for  his  own  weal 
or  pleasure.  No  man  is  to  use  his  gifts  to  gain  per- 
sonal advantage,  or  conspicuity,  or  fame  ;  but  being 
part  of  a  great  organism,  he  is  to  use  his  gifts  for  it. 
There  is  no  lack  of  gifts,  and  there  is  no  superfluity. 
All   are  needed   for   all,   and  society  at  large,   the 


224  THOUGHTS   FOK   THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

Churcli,  is  only  equipped  for  action,  for  doing  the 
great  work  assigned  it,  when  it  can  command  for  its 
use  all  the  gifts  of  its  members ;  when  it  can  bring 
them  all  into  service  and  use  them  for  its  own  blessed 
objects.  And  when  a  man  withholds  his  gifts,  keep- 
ing them  out  of  the  common  stock,  setting  up  business 
on  his  own  account,  or  when  he  refuses  to  stir  up  his 
gifts,  allowing  them  to  lie  dormant  in  his  soul,  he  is 
doing  a  wrong  to  the  society  or  the  Church  of  which 
he  is  a  member.  He  is  leaving  it  measurably,  shorn 
of  its  power,  and  incapable  of  doing  its  work.  The 
true  state  of  feeling  is  the  one  prevalent  in  the 
Church  at  the  time  of  and  subsequent  to  the  mighty 
outpouring  of  the  Spirit  on  the  day  of  Pentecost, 
when  no  man  deemed  aught  that  he  possessed  his  own, 
but  all  Christ's  and  all  his  brethren's — all  for  use. 

A  gift,  great  or  small,  used  not  at  all  does  the 
world  no  good  ;  used  for  mere  personal  ends  it  helps 
on  the  jar  of  the  world  ;  but  held  sacred  for  the  ser- 
vice of  God  and  the  Church,  stirred  up  perpetually 
for  high  ends,  ''  hasting  not,  yet  resting  not,"  it 
equips  the  Church  for  doing  its  work  of  showing  forth 
the  Divine  glory  in  the  salvation  of  souls. 

We  get  the  most  of  personal  advantage  out  of  our 
gifts  when  we  stir  them  and  lead  them  out  under  the 
dictatorship  of  disinterested  affection.  We  get  the 
most  out  of  them  for  ourselves,  for  our  own  happi- 
ness, for  our  own  true  elevation,  our   own  lasting 


THE    GIFT   AND    ITS    USE.  225 

repute  when  we  so  use  them.  Happiness  is  only 
faculty  all  used  and  rightly  used.  Misery  is  faculty 
unused  or  misused.  A  soul  with  all  its  powers  on  the 
alert,  moving  on  some  lofty  course  of  duty,  under 
the  guidance  of  God,  is  doing  the  very  best  thing  for 
itself  that  it  can  do,  doing  all  that  any  soul  can  or 
ought  to  do.  The  soul  is  often  smothered  by  its  own 
sour  unconsumed  smoke.  A  man  is  like  a  horse, — put 
him  to  his  mettle  on  a  free  course,  get  out  of  him  or  let 
him  get  out  of  himself  for  high  ends  all  that  is  in  him, 
and  he  likes  it.  He  may  come  to  his  goal  reeking 
and  dusty,  but  he  comes  to  it  happy.  ]^[o  man  can 
do  the  best  thing  for  himself  till  he  stirs  up  all  that 
there  is  in  him,  puts  it  all  under  the  guidance  of  God 
in  one  blessed  act  of  self-consecration,  and  then  does 
with  his  might  what  there  is  in  him. 

Gifts  will  grow  if  they  are  used,  but  they  will  only 
grow  harmoniously  and  well,  yielding  blessed  fruits 
of  joy  and  peace  to  their  possessor,  as  they  are  put 
under  Divine  law,  are  stirred  up  by  Divine  impulses, 
and  led  forth  on  some  sublime  errand  of  duty  or  of 
suffering  for  God  or  our  race. 

"  Stir  up  the  gift  that  is  in  ihee.^'^  The  address  is 
not  to  the  mass  of  disciples,  but  to  each  ;  for  each  has 
his  proper  gift  of  God, — a  gift  of  which  each  is  the 
steward,  and  for  which  he  will  be  held  to  a  strict  and 
personal  accountability.  God  prizes  each  gift  of  us 
all,  for  His  own  wisdom  devised,  and  His  hand  created 
10* 


226  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE    CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

it.  He  holds  each  gift  bound  to  His  throne,  and  He 
does  not  and  will  not  let  it  go.  "Wander  as  far  and 
wide  as  it  will,  He  will  summon  it  from  its  wanderings 
back  to  His  throne  to  give  an  account  of  its  stewardship. 

Brethren  !  we  have  deposited  with  us  our  several 
gifts  of  God,  prized  of  Him  and  not  to  be  despised  by 
us.  "We  are  not  to  spend  our  days  in  idly  bemoaning 
that  they  are  no  greater  or  more  attractive.  They 
are  ours,  just  what  we  find  ourselves  with,  just  what 
we  have  to  w^ork  with,  our  capital  to  put  to  use  as 
best  w^e  may  for  our  Maker  and  for  the  world.  "We 
are  not  to  bury  them  in  a  napkin  against  the  coming 
of  our  Lord.  The  non-use  of  our  gifts  is  the  abuse 
of  our  gifts.  Slothful ness  meets  condemnation  as 
wxll  as  selfish  action.  "We  are  members  of  society, 
of  the  Church  ;  and  society  and  the  Church,  w^ith  all 
the  voices  of  their  deep  needs,  summon  us  to  use  our 
gifts,  to  stir  them  up.  Thousands  in  the  Church  are 
weary  and  sad,  gloomy  and  despondent,  because  they 
are  not  stirring  up  their  gifts,  or  else  are  using  them 
for  selfish  ends.  The  Church  generally,  the  Church 
specifically,  is  languishing  because  she  cannot  com- 
mand for  lier  high  uses  the  gifts  of  her  members. 

You  who  have  just  joined  the  Church,  I  summon 
you  to  consecrate  and  then  stij-  up  the  gift  that  is  in 
you !  Be  it  small — it  matters  not.  God  wants  it. 
Stir  it  up,  and  make  heaven  a  little  fuller,  and  your- 
self more  blessed  through  its  use. 


XXI. 

THE    LAW    OF    SPIRITUAL    GROWTH. 

As  new  T)orn  labes^  desire  the  sincere  milk  of  the  word,  that  ye  may 

groiD  thereby. — 1  Peter,  ii.  2. 
But  grow  in  grace,  and  in  the  knowledge  of  owr  Lord  and  Saviour 

Jesus  Christ.— 2  Peter,  iii.  18. 

TO  grow  in  grace,  and  to  grow  in  tlie  knowledge 
of  Christ  mean  nearly  the  same  thing.  "We 
grow  in  grace  when  we  advance  in  piety,  in  true  re- 
ligion. Ko  word,  no  idea  ought  to  be  more  familiar 
to  us  than  that  of  growth  in  spirituality,  in  likeness 
to  Christ.  Past  attainments  cannot  serve  us.  We 
rest  on  them,  and  we  wither  and  become  weak  and 
emasculated.  We  can  only  be  strong  and  joyous  as 
we  go  on  growing  more  and  more  day  by  day. 

It  is  alike  om-  privilege  and  duty  to  grow  all 
through  life.  Though  our  outward  man  may  perish, 
though  our  intellects  become  torpid  and  stiff,  yet  our 
hearts  may  become  more  and  more  mellow,  devout, 
loving  and  sweet. 

I  propose  now  to  speak  of  the  conditions  of  spirit- 


i 


228  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

iial  growth,  assuming  that  growth  is  practicable.  1 
shall  confine  myself  to  general  conditions.  What  are 
the  conditions  of  growth  in  the  Divine  life  ? 

First  and  most  important  of  all,  lying  at  the  basis 
of  all,  we  must  be  m  the  Divine  life  if  we  would  grow 
in  it.  God's  seed  must  be  in  ns.  We  must  have 
passed  through  that  great  change  of  which  the  Saviour 
spoke  when  He  said,  "  Ye  must  be  born  again."  We 
must  have  entered  into  the  kingdom  of  God  by  simple 
faith  in  Jesus.  "  Tliat  which  is  born  of  the  flesh  is 
flesh,  and  that  which  is  born  of  the  Spirit  is  spirit." 
The  flesh  cannot  expand  into  the  spirit,  nor  the  fleshly 
man  into  the  spiritual,  by  the  merely  natural  process 
of  expansion.  There  must  be  something  superinduced 
upon  the  fleshly  man  to  make  him  pass  into  the  sj)iritual. 
He  must  become  the  partaker  of  a  new,  even  a  Divine 
life.  Be  this  now  and  always  understood  and  be- 
lieved. We  must  pass  out  of  nature  into  grace,  come 
under  Christ  and  into  Christ,  become  a  partaker  of  the  ' 
Divine  influences  that  emanate  from  Him  for  the 
quickening  and  expansion  of  depraved  humanity,  ere 
we  can  grow  or  begin  to  grow  at  all. 

Having  become  partakers  of  the  grace  of  God 
which  is  in  Christ,  and  possessors  of  the  Divine  life  in 
germ,  we  have  come  under  the  very  first  condition  of 
growth.  The  Divine  life  being  engendered  in  the  soul 
by  the  Holy  Spirit,  it  like  all  life  has  within  itself  the 
law  of  development,  of  expansion.     There  is  nothing 


THE    LAW   OF    SPIRITUAL    GROAVTII.  229 

wliich  has  life  at  all  which  has  not  wraj)ped  up  in  it 
such  a  law.  It  is  one  of  the  things  that  everywhere 
distinguish  life  from  death.  Death  has  no  power  of 
growth.  It  tends  to  dissolution  always  and  every- 
where. Put  it  where  you  will,  subject  it  to  any  in- 
fluences, that  is  its  one  all-conquering  tendency — dis^ 
solution,  decay.  But  life  always  tends  to  growth. 
You  place  a  living  body,  a  living  seed,  anything 
living,  under  the  proper  influences,  and  it  will  develop 
and  grow  till  another  and  higher  law  prevents  it. 

This  law  of  growth  with  which  all  life  is  invested, 
is  the  only  efficient  cause  of  growth.  Take  away  it, 
and  you  miglit  place  it  in  any  situation,  subject  it  to 
any  influences,  and  there  would  be  no  growth.  The 
life  of  God  in  the  soul  of  man  has  this  universal  char- 
acteristic of  life, — a  tendency  to  expand.  It  enters 
the  soul  with  it,  is  a  part  of  it.  All  the  will  in  the 
world  would  not  create  it.  Things  do  not  grow  be- 
cause we  will  them  to  grow.  Who  by  willing  can 
add  one  cubit  to  his  stature  or  one  faculty  to  his  soul, 
or  a  law  of  quicker  growth  than  that  which  is  im- 
planted within  him  ?  I  am  not  now  speaking  of  the 
way  in  which  the  Divine  life  is  begotten  within  us ; 
whether  with  or  without  our  will.  I  am  only  speak- 
ing of  the  law  of  growth  which  comes  in  with  the 
Divine  life,  let  that  life  enter  as  it  may.  Tlie  Divine 
life  has  just  as  much  a  tendency  to  grow  as  the  natu- 
ral life.     A  child  of  God  as  naturally  develops  into  a 


230  THOUGHTS   FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

man  of  God  as  a  child's  body  develops  into  a  man's 
body.  A  Christian  does  not  have  to  go  down  into 
the  dark  recesses  of  his  own  soul  and  beget  and  nour- 
ish the  law  of  growth.  It  is  there  when  he  becomes 
a  Christian.  His  business  is  far  removed  from  the 
creation  of  such  a  law.  He  has  no  more  to  beget  the 
law  of  growth  in  himself,  than  he  has  to  beget  such  a 
law  in  the  corn  he  plants,  or  the  child  of  which  he  is 
the  father.  All  the  Christian  has  to  do  is  to  comply 
with  the  conditions  of  growth,  the  law  of  it  being 
already  in  him.  The  Christian  grows  not  by  his  will, 
but  spontaneously,  as  the  corn  or  the  grass  grows  in 
the  field.  Pie  might  as  well  create  life  under  the  ribs 
of  death  as  bid  anything  within  him  grow.  That  is 
God's  province,  not  man's. 

It  is  not  sufficiently  dwelt  upon  that  at  the  very 
birth  of  the  soul  into  the  kingdom  of  God,  there  be- 
gins to  work  this  law  of  expansion,  and  that  if  we  do 
not  grow  in  the  Divine  life  it  is  because  we  impede 
the  action  of  this  law,  just  as  some  nations  and  tribes 
by  constraint  and  clamps  hinder  the  growth  of  certain 
members  of  the  body.  We  check,  restrain  the  law, 
and  so  contract  great  guilt.  There  is  life  within  us 
with  all  the  laws  of  life,  and  we  stop  its  advancement. 
Under  the  appropriate  situations  and  influences  which 
lie  within  our  sphere  of  choice,  we  should  on  becom- 
ing babes  in  Christ  grow  up  into  men  in  Christ,  as 
surely  as  the  seed  develops  first  the  blade,  then  the 


THE    LAW    OF    SriRITUAL   GKOWTH.  231 

ear,  and  then  the  full  corn  in  the  ear.  We  have  not 
to  work  away  down  among  the  laws  of  life  of  which 
we  know  and  can  know  little, — but  up  in  the  light 
where  we  may  know  all, — just  as  the  farmer  has  not 
to  go  beneath  the  surface  to  beget  and  watch  the 
laws  of  growth  in  his  seed,  but  only  to  work  on  the 
surface  where  he  may  know  all  that  he  can  or  need 
do.  It  takes  a  Liebig  to  study  the  laws  of  vegetable 
life,  but  any  peasant  can  produce  corn  enough  to  feed 
liimself  and  family.  So  it  might  require  more  than 
an  angel's  knowledge  to  study  the  laws  of  spiritual 
life  and  growth,  but  the  tiniest  and  weakest  child  of 
God  may  grow  up  into  the  likeness  of  Jesus. 

This  then  is  the  first,  the  great  condition  of  growth 
in  the  Divine  life, — that  we  have  this  life,  that  we  be 
born  of  the  Spirit,  that  we  be  Christians.  Without 
this  there  is  and  can  be  no  growth  as  Christians. 

Having  thus  spoken  of  the  law  of  expansion  which 
exists  in  all  Christians  from  the  time  that  they  be- 
come Christians,  a  law  which  begins  to  operate  with 
the  first  dawnings  of  Divine  life,  and  will  continue  to 
operate  so  long  as  it  is  permitted  to  do  so,  I  would 
now  add  that  the  second  condition  of  spiritual  growth 
is  the  removal  of  obstructions  to  the  natural  and  spon- 
taneous action  of  that  law  of  growth  of  which  we  liave 
spoken.  I  have  said  that  from  the  beginning  there  is 
a  tendency  to  expansion  in  the  Divine  life.  That 
tendencv  comes  from  God  without  our  will.    It  is  ours 


232  THOUGHTS  rorw  the  christian  life. 

to  see  to  it  that  we  do  not  check  it  by  interposing 
obstacles,  or  allowing  obstacles  to  be  interposed. 

Christ  in  the  parable  of  the  Sower  speaks  of  some 
in  whom  the  seed  did  not  bear  fruit.  "  The  cares  of 
this  world,  and  the  deceitfulness  of  riches  choke  the 
word  and  it  becometh  nnfruitful."  The  Savionr  here 
recognizes  the  law  of  growth,  and  that  that  law  wonld 
have  acted  if  it  had  been  allowed,  but  it  was  hindered. 
The  cares  of  this  w^orld  and  the  deceitfulness  of  riches 
were  the  hindrance.  They  prevented  the  spiritual 
life  from  doing  what  it  had  a  tendency  to  do — develop 
itself  more  and  more  till  the  individual  should  arrive 
at  the  stature  of  a  perfect  man  in  Christ.  Tlie  body 
may  be  put  into  an  iron  mould,  and  thus  be  hindered 
from  growing  by  the  force  of  outward  pressure.  The 
seed  that  we  plant  in  the  earth  we  may  cover  with 
stones  or  permit  thorns  and  w^eeds  to  grow  up  and 
choke  it.  In  agriculture  a  great  part  of  our  business 
is  just  to  permit  the  law  of  growth  to  have  free  play, 
to  war  continually  with  all  obstacles,  not  doing  so 
much  directly  to  make  the  plants  grow  as  to  eradicate 
all  that  would  hinder  their  growth,  leaving  them  to 
come  to  perfection  in  their  own  time  and  way.  So  in 
spiritual  husbandry, — we  have  not  so  much  to  do  in 
cultivating  our  piety  directly  as  in  removing  the  hin- 
drances to  its  expansion.  It  will  grow  under  the  ap- 
propriate conditions,  if  we  do  not  permit  the  vital 
forces,  all  the  energies  of  the  soul  to  be  drawn  off  to 


THE   LAW   OF   SPIRITUAL   GROWTH.  233 

nourish  other  and  hostile  growths.  If  the  soul's 
powers  are  absorbed  in  other  things,  of  course  piety 
has  no  room  to  grow.  The  law  of  its  expansion  is 
overborne,  and  for  the  time  being  crashed.  It  is  as 
impossible  for  it  to  expand,  notwithstanding  its  ten- 
dency to  do  so,  as  it  is  for  the  wheat  to  grow  in  the 
field  which  is  overgrown  with  thorns.  Piety  mnst 
have  room  in  the  soul,  it  must  have  faculties,  powers 
vacated,  left  free  by  all  other  tenants,  mto  which  it 
may  strike  its  roots  and  whence  it  may  draw  succu- 
lence. A  soul  into  which  a  thousand  worldly  cares 
and  interests  come  thronging  in  thick  phalanx,  has  no 
room  for  piety  to  enter,  or  if  it  does  enter,  it  must  be 
content  to  occupy  a  corner,  and  draw  a  little  support 
thence,  while  the  main  faculties  are  given  to  other 
things.  Piety  has  no  chance  in  such  a  soul.  It  would 
be  a  miracle  if  it  should  grow.  Religion  proposes  to 
purify  and  elevate  the  soul,  of  course  it  must  have  a 
soul  to  purify  and  elevate.  The  soul  must  give  itself 
up  and  over  to  religion,  for  it  to  try  its  i:)Owers  upon, 
to  do  with  and  for  it  what  it  can  do.  Having  free 
course  in  the  soul,  piety,  with  the  other  conditions  of 
growth  met,  will  obey  its  own  law  and  develop  more 
and  more. 

A  third  condition  of  growth  in  the  Divine  as  in 
all  life  is  nourishment.  The  law  of  expansion  may  bo 
in  it,  obstructions  may  be  removed,  but  without  spir- 
itual food   it  cannot   grow.      All   life   expands  and 


234  THOUGHTS   FOR  THE  CHEISTIAN   LIFE. 

comes  to  perfection  with  due  nutriment  seasonably 
administered.  You  may  starve  the  Divine  life  as 
well  as  choke  it.  A  soul  conversant  with  a  few 
stereotyped  thoughts  which  run  forever  in  the  old 
grooves,  can  never  furnish  a  home  for  an  expanding 
spiritual  life.  In  such  a  soul  it  like  everything  else 
in  it,  must  be  shrivelled  and  dwarfed,  resembling  the 
herbage  of  a  desert  where  life  struggles  with  death  in 
pei-petual  battle.  Eeligion  will  shape  itself  to  the 
soul,  will  exj)and  and  will  be  shrivelled  with  it, 
moulding  it,  and  also  moulded  by  it.  A  cramped, 
pinched-in  soul  will  always  exhibit  piety  in  its  most 
mean  and  unattractive  aspects.  In  such  a  soul  it  may 
ran  into  fanaticism,  into  a  blind  and  chafing  scrupu- 
losity, and  will  not,  cannot  shine  out  in  its  own  native 
loveliness  and  beauty,  born  of  heaven  and  free  of  the 
universe. 

If  you  would  have  an  attractive,  commanding,  o'er- 
mastering  piety,  you  must  have  ordinarily  an  attrac-- 
tive,  commanding  and  o'ermastering  soul  for  it  to 
enter  and  to  occupy.  The  man  in  a  sense  makes  the 
Christian.  A  small  man  makes  a  small  Christian,  a 
mean  man  a  mean  Christian.  Piety  when  it  comes 
into  a  soul  has  to  take  what  it  finds.  If  there  is  little 
stuff  to  work  with,  it  makes  what  it  can  out  of  it. 
Men  of  the  world  complain  that  the  Church  exhibits, 
so  few  bright  and  shining  Christians.  One  reason  is 
that  the  world  furnishes  such  poor  materials  to  make  | 


THE   LAW   OF   SPIRITUAL  GROWTH.  235 

them  out  of.  If  tlie  world  will  furnisli  better  ma- 
terials, the  Church  will  furnisli  better  Christians. 
Give  us  great,  generous,  noble  men,  and  we  will  show 
great,  generous,  noble  Christians. 

And  then,  too,  when  the  soul,  such  as  it  is,  has 
come  under  the  power  of  the  Gospel  and  is  regen- 
erated, nothing  wants  nourishment  more  than  it. 
Piety  being  light  struggles  for  light, — creeps  toward 
the  narrowest  loop-hole  by  which  it  can  enter.  And 
there  is  nourishment  for  the  souls  that  have  been 
born  into  the  Divine  kingdom.  There  is  bread  in  our 
Father's  house  for  His  own  children  enough  and  to 
spare.  There  is  a  Book  full  of  the  very  seeds  of 
truth.  There  is  an  Ichaboe  whence  we  may  draw 
nutriment  for  all  the  plants  of  righteousness  in  the 
soul.  We  are  not  straitened  and  pressed  in  on  all 
sides  by  God,  but  in  our  own  selves.  No  one  can 
say  that  his  spiritual  nature  is  starved  in  God.  He 
has  provided  the  amplest  stores  for  the  healthy  de- 
velopment of  the  children  He  brings  into  His  king- 
dom here,  and  will  exalt  to  His  own  glory  hereafter. 
And  if  our  piety  is  to  grow,  we  must  resort  to  and 
feed  on  these  stores,  all  of  them.  It  takes  a  whole 
Bible,  nay,  I  should  not  be  extravagant  in  assertiug 
that  it  takes  a  whole  universe  to  feed  and  nourish  a 
whole  Christian,  for  to  be  a  whole  Christian  is  noth- 
ing more  than  to  be  a  whole  man,  a  man  developed  up- 
ward, downward  and  around,  heavenward  and  earth- 


236  THOUGHTS   FOE   THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

ward,  God  ward  and  manward,  a  man  linked  to  God 
and  his  fellows  according  to  their  worth  and  rela- 
tions. And  it  takes  all  truth  to  develop  a  whole 
man,  all  trnth  that  is  lodged  m  the  Bible,  and  all 
truth  that  is  lodo-ed  in  that  other  book  of  God — His 
works.  The  Christian  that  would  grow  into  the 
highest  possible  spiritual  life  must  feed  all  his  soul 
with  the  appropriate  nutriment,  which  God  has  made 
to  nourish  it.  He  must  feed  wonder,  love,  hope,  joj. 
He  must  ply  his  whole  nature  with  the  entire  circuit 
of  truth.  He  must  stretch  his  cords  on  this  hand  and 
on  that.  He  must  elicit  his  powers  by  all  truth  and 
all  beauty.  And  one  great  reason  why  the  spiritual 
life  witliin  us  does  not  obey  its  own  law  and  expand 
into  a  freer  and  more  noble  and  symmetrical  growth, 
is  that  we  do  not  nourish  it  with  all  the  food  that  God 
has  laid  up  in  store  for  it. 

K  fourth  condition  of  spiritual  growth  is  one  also 
common  to  all  life,  namely,  exercise.  It  is  a  rule  of 
all  God's  intelligent,  and  I  might  also  add,  unintelli- 
gent creation,  that  *'  to  it  that  •  hath  shall  be  given, 
and  from  it  that  hath  not  shall  be  taken  away  even 
that  which  it  hath."  Stagnancy  is,  or  soon  tends  to, : 
death.  Movement  is  the  condition  of  breathing  and 
expanding  life  everywhere.  Shut  the  infant  up,  fetter 
his  limbs,  exclude  the  fresh  light  and  air,  and  you 
doom  him  to  infancy.  Leave  the  intellect  unexercised 
for  a  few  months  or  years,  and  it  stiffens  into  rigidity, 


THE   LAW   OF   SPIRITUAL   GROWTH.  237 

and  becomes  almost  incapable  of  expansion.  So  it  is 
with  piety.  If  we  would  have  it  grow  it  must  be 
called  into  action  and  be  kept  in  action  ;  not  action  in 
one  line  of  things,  lest  what  was  intended  to  grow  sym- 
metrically should  bulge  out  into  deformity,  but  ac- 
tion in  all  lines  of  duty,  action  moving  through  the 
whole  circuit. 

The  piety  that  would  grow  must  keep  itself  in  full 
and  vigorous  play.  It  must  be  out  on  the  fields  of 
earth  gathering  in  the  harvests  of  God  into  His 
garner.  It  must  not  be  always  working  indeed  in  the 
street,  in  the  sabbath-school,  in  the  prayer-meeting,  in 
the  dwellings  of  want  and  woe  and  affliction,  else 
would  it  have  no  time  to  feed  itself  by  prayer,  and 
reading,  and  meditation  ;  but  working  and  feeding 
alternately  and  together,  it  will  grow  stronger  and 
stronger,  till  mature  and  full-grown,  it  shall  pass  into 
the  light  and  life  of  heaven. 

These,  I  think,  are  the  four  main  conditions  of 
Christian  growth.  The  life  of  God  in  the  soul,  with 
its  law  of  expansion  wrapped  up  in  it ;  the  removal 
of  all  obstructions  to  its  growth,  giving  it  free,  vacated 
powers  and  faculties  of  intellect  and  heart,  to  seize 
and  hold  as  much  as  possible  an  unincumbered  mind  ; 
then  copious  and  liberal  nourishment  drawn  both 
from  the  works  and  word  of  God,  putting  the  whole 
Bible  and  the  whole  creation  into  the  mind  to  stretch 
it,  to  elevate  and  widen  it ;  and  then,  lastly,  giving 


238  THOUGHTS   FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

it  wide  scope  for  action  in  just  such  a  world  as  tliis, 
where  there  is  so  much  to  move  its  pity,  stir  its  ener- 
gies, harden  it  aright,  and  soften  it  aright. 

Let  us  comply  with  these  practicable  conditions, 
not  watching  our  piety  to  see  it  grow,  not  always  sum- 
moning it  to  the  stand  and  severely  questioning  it ; 
but  treating  it  reasonably  and  confidingly  as  we  treat 
life  elsewhere,  and  it  will  advance  more  and  more. 
Spiritual  childhood  will  pass  on  into  spiritual  man- 
hood. There  is  a  Divinely  appointed  way  of  progress, 
and  conditions  of  growth.  Divine  life  has  its  methods, 
as  well  as  other  life,  and  this  removes  it  out  of  the 
sphere  of  miracles,  into  the  sphere  of  regular  events. 
God  will  not  interpose  and  annul  these  methods.  We 
shall  no  more  grow  when  the  soul  is  crowded  with 
cares,  than  the  wheat  when  it  is  choked  with  briers. 
We  shall  no  more  grow  without  nutriment  than  it, 
or  without  exercise  than  the  intellect  expands  with- 
out it.  Let  the  life  of  God  be  ours,  feed  it,  exercise  it, 
and  it  will  grow  so  long  as  the  ordinances  of  God  are 
as  they  are. 


XXII. 

THE    AUTHORITATIYENESS    OF    CHRIST'S    TEACHINGS. 

And  it  came  to  pass  \6hen  Jesus  had  ended  these  sayings^  the 
people  were  astonished  at  His  doctrine.  For  he  taught  them 
as  one  having  authority  and  not  as  the  scriJ)es. — Matt.  vii. 

28,  29. 

IT  was  at  the  conclusion  of  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount,  that  the  people  felt  and  probably  ex- 
pressed their  astonishment  at  Christ's  doctrine.  Here 
was  a  new  man  on  the  earth,  clear  as  the  light  of  the 
sun,  fresh  as  the  morning  dews,  knowing  man,  know- 
ing God  and  His  truth,  discarding  musty  traditions, 
idle  babblements,  smiting  home  to  the  very  core  of 
the  matter,  and  revealing  at  a  stroke,  what  it  really 
concerned  men  to  know — the  real  blessedness  of  life, 
what  we  must  be  and  do  to  be  true  men,  and  to  win 
true  men's  goal  and  reward.  With  the  vision  of  a 
seer  He  saw,  with  the  fearlessness  of  a  prophet  He 
told,  where  the  true  blessedness  of  man  lay :  not  in 
walking  the  circles  of  ceremonious  religionists,  but  in 
being  meek,  pure,  lowly,  peaceful,  generous,  forgiv- 


240  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE    CHEISTIAN    LIFE. 

ing ;  in  meeting  a  rebellious  world  in  stern  antago- 
nism, and  dying  for  principle  ;  in  being  rigbt-hearted, 
liberal-banded,  devout,  true,  good.  Tbe  people  wbo 
gatbered  to  bear  Him,  beard  sometbing  tbey  bad  not 
been  accustomed  to  bear.  Tbey  did  not  well  under- 
stand Him,  He  was  so  out  of  tbe  usual  track  of  teacb- 
ers.     "  Tbey  were  astonisbed  at  His  doctrine." 

It  indicates  a  sad  lapse  from  all  rigbt  instructions 
tbat  sucb  apborisms  as  fill  a  large  part  of  tbis  sermon, 
sbould  bave  awakened  astonisbment,  but  so  it  was. 
Tbey  bad  been  accustomed  to  listen  to  tbe  Scribes, 
tbe  learned  men,  tbe  religious  teacbers  of  tbe  nation, 
and  tbeir  teacbing  was  little  more  tban  dry  bits  of 
Rabbinical  lore,  stale,  flat,  and  unprofitable,  stirring, 
feeding  neitber  mind  nor  beart.  Cbrist's  teacbings, 
they  could  see,  were  entirely  difi'erent  in  matter  and 
manner,  substance  and  form.  He  taugbt  different 
lessons,  and  He  taugbt  tbem  as  one  baving  authority. 

We  are  not  to  allow  any  wrong  associations  to 
cluster  around  tbis  word  authority^  as  tbougb  in 
speaking  with  authority,  Christ  spoke  in  a  stern,  im- 
perious, harsh  manner.  We  sometimes,  perhaps  gener- 
ally, have  sucb  associations  with  the  term,  and  with  the 
persons  to  whom  it  is  applicable.  When  one  speaks 
with  authority,  he  too  often  repels  us.  N^ow  there 
was  nothing  stern  or  repellent  to  tbe  simple-hearted 
in  Christ,  and  when  tbe  people  saw  and  said  that  He 
taught  with  authority,  it  means  simply  tbat  He  spoke 


THE   AUTHORITATIVENESS    OF   CHRISt's    TEACHINGS.     241 

as  one  who  had  a  right  to  speak,  one  who  was  com- 
missioned to  sj)eak,  one  who  spoke  out  of  the  intui- 
tions of  His  own  soul,  from  the  siglit  of  his  own  eyes, 
the  hearing  of  His  own  ears,  first-hand  not  second- 
hand, certainties  not  guesses,  observations  not  re- 
ports, out  of  the  depths  not  from  the  surface  of  His 
nature. 

There  was  something,  doubtless,  in  his  whole  being 
that  indicated  unmistakably  that  He  was  not  dealing 
in  notions,  speculations,  but  in  substantial  verities  that 
struck  home  to  what  was  deepest,  best  in  man — the 
conscience,  the  loftier  sentiments,  the  heart. 

As  there  is  an  unmistakable  difference  between 
what  is  significant  and  what  is  insignificant,  what 
comes  from  speculation  and  what  from  intuition,  what 
is  guess  and  what  is  certainty,  so  there  is  an  unmis- 
takable difference  in  the  manner  in  which  the  two 
are  uttered,  if  we  only  have  discrimination  to  see.  A 
true  soul,  like  a  false  soul,  has  its  own  manner.  The 
tongues  that  God  loads  with  revelations  and  then  in- 
spires to  utter  them,  stir  the  air  differently  from 
tongues  that  Satan  freights  and  sets  in  motion.  The 
authority  with  which  a  good  man  speaks,  is  as  difter- 
ent  from  the  authority  with  which  a  bad  man  speaks, 
as  the  tone  of  an  angel  is  different  from  the  tone  of  a 
blusterer.  As  Christ  had  better  and  greater  things 
to  say  than  the  Scribes,  so  He  said  them  differently. 
Divine  matter  found  a  Divine  style  of  utterance. 
11 


242  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE    CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

And  so  the  very  style  of  Christ  impressed  the  unso- 
phisticated multitude.  Thej  could  not  analyze  His 
power,  but  they  felt  it.  They  could  not  tell  why  He 
affected  them.  The  Apostle  gives  unity  to  then-  loose 
thought,  and  words  to  their  secret  feeling,  when  he 
says,  "  He  spake  with  authority,"  and  so  gives  the 
clue  to  their  astonishment.  They  felt  it — he  names 
it.  He  spoke  with  authority  as  a  Heaven-appointed, 
and  not  a  self- commissioned.  Teacher. 

And  this  is  what  the  world  needed  then,  and  wdiat 
it  needs  still,  and  what  it  ever  will  need  while  it  shall 
stand — some  one  to  speak  to  it  with  authority,  as 
from  God,  as  from  eternity,  to  speak  not  guesses  but 
facts. 

This  is  in  some  respects  a  knowing  world,  a  keen, 
intelligent  race  of  which  we  constitute  a  part.  I 
would  not  disparage,  but  suitably  magnify  human 
power  and  intelligence.  It  searches  many  things  ;  it 
finds  out  much  in  the  heavens  above,  in  the  earth 
beneath,  in  the  waters  under  the  earth.  God  has 
given  us  far-darting  thoughts,  excursive  powers  that 
cannot  be  and  should  not  be  limited.  He  has  put  us 
here  to  act  indeed,  but  to  act  intelligently, — our 
thought  pioneering  the  way  for  our  hand,  our  thought 
running  before,  ploughing  up  the  immense  field  of  pos- 
sibility. God  elicits  thought — stirs  up  His  creatures 
like  a  bird  her  birdling,  to  take  narrower  or  broader 
swoops  into  the  airy  domain  of  thought.     He  pricks 


THE   AUTHORITATIVENESS   OF   CHRISt's   TEACHINGS.     243 

US  into  thought  by  the  sharp  goads  of  stern  necessity. 
He  does  not  mean  to  spare  us  in  this  matter.  We 
must  think,  or  we  forfeit  our  birthright.  We  must 
think,  or  we  can  neither  win  nor  hold  the  mastership 
of  creation.  We  fail  or  cease  to  think,  and  the  beasts 
that  we  were  appointed  to  rule,  mount  higher  than 
we.  It  is  think  or  die,  and  God  does  not  mean  to 
tell  us  much  that  we  can  find  out  for  ourselves.  He 
beckons  us  on  and  up  to  higher  and  still  higher  prob- 
lems. He  sets  easy  ones  for  children,  harder  ones 
for  men.  He  geometrizes,  and  writes  His  figures  in 
stars  and  star-dust  scattered  over  immensity.  Fu-st, 
the  problems  of  every-day  life.  We  must  think — 
think  to  get  bread  and  butter  and  home  and  shelter ; 
think  to  find  out  means  of  locomotion  ;  think  to  lift 
ourselves  and  others  out  of  barbarism  ;  think  to  live 
a  decent,  comely  life,  to  make  earth  a  safe  and  com- 
modious tenement  to  live  in  till  the  grave  opens  for 
us,  and  our  souls  go  out  into  still  larger  homes. 

And  then  we  must  think  higher  than  earth  to  get 
over  it.  It  is  found  that  we  cannot  cut  pathways 
safely  over  the  deep,  except  as  we  study  the  stars, 
and  so  we  have  to  scale  the  skies,  and  watch  the  celes- 
tial light-houses— God  feeding  their  fiames, — if  Ave 
would  carry  merchandise  over  the  deep.  There  is 
no  safe  traffic  without  astronomy;  and  so  by  our  lower 
needs,  God  inspirits  us  on  to  higher  studies.  And  in 
these  lower  and  these  higher  departments,  God  tells 


244  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

US  nothing.  He  pays  due  respect  to  the  powers  He 
has  given  us.  He  lifts  us  over  no  rough  places  that 
we  can  surmount  ourselves.  He  bridges  no  chasms 
that  we  can  span.  He  levels  no  mountains  that  we 
can  scale.  He  sees  that  we  can  do  many  things,  more 
than  we  even  imagine.  He  plants  a  beckoning  uni- 
verse before  us,  and  tells  us  to  enter  and  traverse  it. 
He  know^s  that  wherever  we  can  find  a  star  on  which 
to  plant  our  foot,  we  will  make  a  ladder,  and  with  suns 
and  systems  as  its  rounds,  we  will  scale  creation, 
going  up  and  out  to  its  limits. 

But  while  God  honors  our  powers  by  enticing  us 
out  into  His  material  creation  to  search  and  fathom 
it,  He  honors  us  still  more  by  beckoning  us  out  into 
the  spiritual  realm,  where  to  the  eye  of  the  body  all 
is  dark,  and  where  the  soul  only  can  see  and  hear  with 
its  anointed  eye  and  its  listening  ear.  But  we  cannot 
go  off  into  that  realm  without  helps.  We  want  some 
spots  at  least  of  light — some  stars  by  which  to  direct 
our  way — some  helps  to  sustain  our  tottering  steps — 
some  slight  teachings  to  encourage  us  to  go  out  and 
traverse  it.  And  so  He  has  given  us  helps.  He  has 
commissioned  One  who  knows  all,  to  come  and  teach 
us  not  all  that  He  knows,  but  the  alp>habet  of  eternity, 
the  first  truths  of  the  spiritual  realm,  and  that' Teacher 
has  come  and  He  has  spoken  to  us,  some  things,  not 
many,  not  all  that  we  might  covet,  but  enough  ;  and 
He  has  spoken  with  autliority,  and  this  is  what  we 


THE    AUTHOKITATIVENESS    OF   CHRISt's    TEACHINGS.     2-i5 

want.  We  conld  guess,  but  guesses  are  nothing. 
Souls  once  lioused  in  clay,  might  speak,  but  their 
utterances  might  not  be  reliable.  We  want  one  who 
has  looked  over  the  illimitable  range  of  truth,  and 
knows  what  to  select  for  utterance.  We  want  one 
who  has  searched  the  depths  of  our  natures  and  knows 
when  we  need  light  and  help.  We  want  one  who 
knows  God  and  can  picture  Him, — set  Him  at  least 
in  miniature  before  us,  set  Him  correctly,  with  no 
deficiencies  and  no  surplusages,  before  the  world's  eye. 
And  we  have  such  an  one  in  Christ.  He  knows 
whereof  He  affirms,  and  He  speaks  like  one  who 
knows. 

This  is  what  the  world  covets — authoritative  utter- 
ances, decisive  revelations  on  these  great  themes ; 
voices  from  one  that  knows,  and  that  should  make  us 
know,  so  far  as  He  shall  deem  it  wise  to  communicate. 
When  the  Bible  says,  then,  that  Christ  spoke  with 
authority,  it  says  what  we  should  expect  with  refer- 
ence to  a  Divine  Teacher.  He  must  leave  us  with 
the  clear  conviction  that  He  looked  right  into  the 
spiritual  world,  into  God,  into  man,  and  spoke  what 
He  saw  and  knew.  Anytliii^  short  of  authoritative 
utterances,  would  have  come  short  of  the  world's 
needs  and  demands. 

Authoritative  speech  from  Christ  is  the  only 
efi*ective  speech,  really,  lastingly  so.  Men  love  to 
have  men  speak  to  them  in  an  authoritative  way. 


246  THOUGHTS   FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

always  proyicled  that  tlie  authority  be  well  based, 
tender  and  loving.  We  like  to  get  at  souls  that  know, 
and  wish  as  little  as  possible  to  do  with  such  as  guess 
and  conjecture  ;  we  like  men  of  science,  knowledge, 
not  men  of  mere  notions.  Men,  indeed,  run  after 
quacks,  pretenders,  but  it  is  generally  through  mis- 
take and  misapprehension.  Quackery  is  often,  per- 
haps generally,  pretentious,  making  a  great  din,  and 
attracting  much  notice.  It  can  speak  with  a  noisy, 
shallow  authority,  but  quackery  is  known  of  her  chil- 
dren. God  does  not  mean  that  simple,  true  souls 
should  take  noise  for  sense,  pretence  for  worth,  false 
authority  for  true.  Wisdom  is  justified  by  being  first 
recognized  and  known  of  her  children.  True  men 
love  true  utterances  spoken  by  such  as  know  them 
true. 

The  testimony  of  adepts  is  more  or  less  decisive  in 
and  out  of  courts  of  law.  When  we  find  a  man  skilled 
in  his  own  department,  we  heed  him.  We  are  always 
seeing  with  others'  eyes,  entering  into  all  kinds  of 
business  on  the  seeings  of  men  who  we  think  can  dis- 
cern farther  than  we  can.  'No  one  can  see  far  all 
around.  We  are  all  very  much  like  the  African 
buffalo,  which  can  see  dead  ahead  a  considerable  dis- 
tance, but  not  ten  yards  on  either  hand.  Men  see  in 
the  direction  they  take,  in  the  direction  in  which  their 
powers  run  naturally,  and  we  listen  to  men  testifying 
to  what  they  have  seen  and  known.     You  know  one 


THE   AUTHOEITATIVENESS   OF   CHRISt's    TEACHINGS.     247 

thing,  perhaps  more, — but  jour  testimony  is  available 
in  your  own  line.  Mechanics  see  in  their  line,  phy- 
sicians in  theirs,  lawyers  in  theirs,  and  their  word  is 
more  or  less  authoritative,  as  they  are  more  or  less 
highly  endowed  and  skilful.  Yet  none  are  infallible. 
None  speak  with  absolute  truth.  But  Christ,  in  His 
department,  in  those  things  on  which  He  speaks  at 
all,  speaks  infallibly,  authoritatively,  and  His  word 
is  effective  only  as  He  so  speaks. 

Doubt  Christ  on  the  themes  on  which  He  speaks, 
and  your  soul  is  crippled.  As  His  speech  is  infallible, 
so  your  faith  must  be  unfaltering.  A  wavering  recep- 
tion of  a  true  word  is  as  disastrous  as  a  sure  reception 
of  a  dubious  word.  What  men  want,  is  certainty, 
and  this  they  cannot  have  within  the  realm  of  spir- 
itual and  Divine  things,  except  from  an  infallible  and 
authoritative  Teacher.  Man  can  satisfy  man  within 
his  own  realm,  but  not  outside  of  it.  All  religions 
springing  from  human  thought,  human  reason  merely, 
fail  to  hold  men.  They  are  not  binding.  They  have 
no  authority.  The  voices  that  are  to  draw  men  to  the 
spiritual  world,  must  come  from  that  world.  The 
influences  that  are  to  lift  above  earth,  must  come  from 
above  earth.  The  teachings  that  are  to  grapple  men 
and  lift  them,  must  come  from  a  more  than  human 
source.  Men  are  affected,  drawn  and  kept  out  of  and 
above  themselves,  by  a  power  emanating  from  Heaven 
itself. 


248  THOUGHTS   FOK   THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

After  all,  men  do  love  to  be  dealt  with  in  religious 
matters  autlioritativelj.  Truth  must  be  mandatory. 
It  must  come  home  with  a  stern,  imperative,  This  is 
truc^  arid  you  must  heed  it  Take  this  and  heed  it, 
and  obey  it,  and  you  will  be  saved ;  reject  it,  and  you 
will  be  damned.  If  Christ^s  word  has  had  any  power 
on  the  world,  it  has  been  as  an  authoritative  word,  a 
strictly  infallible  revelation  of  truth  and  duty  within 
the  sphere  it  pretends  to  cover.  If  it  is  to  have 
power  in  time  to  come,  it  must  be  in  the  same  way. 
The  authoritative  word  is  the  potent  word  in  this 
world. 

This  authoritative  speech  of  Christ  will  never  be- 
come obsolete,  and  never  can  be  superseded.  I  know 
not  what  new  light  is  to  come  to  us  from  God.  This  I 
am  not  competent  to  decide.  But  of  this  I  am  as- 
sured, that  no  new  light  will  supersede  or  obscure  the 
light  that  has  come  to  us  from  Christ,  and  for  this 
reason  mainly,  that  His  speech  was  authoritative  on 
the  themes,  and  within  the  sphere  of  its  inculcations, 
and  so  it  was  final.  He  spoke  to  us  of  God  and  our 
relations  to  Him,  and  God  and  our  relations  can  never 
change.  He  spoke  to  us  of  eternity,  and  eternity 
never  waxes  old.  He  spoke  to  us  of  man,  and  man 
in  his  great  original  traits,  is  the  same  as  when  Christ 
spoke  to  him.  The  truth  on  all  these  themes  is  not 
affected  by  the  lapse  of  years.  Centuries  wear  the 
mountains,  and  they  come  to  nought,  but  they  alter 


not  the  eternal  truths  of  God  and  man.  The  Sermon 
on  the  Mount  is  as  fresh  and  beautiful  to-day  as  when 
the  lips  of  Jesus  first  parted  to  utter  it  in  the  ears  of 
the  multitude.  So  long  as  man  is  what  he  is, — so 
long  the  words  of  Jesus  will  be  to  him  what  they 
have  ever  been — the  brightest  jewels  of  our  lost 
humanity.  Jesus  may  become  the  obsolete  Teacher 
of  the  world  when  a  new  God  ascends  the  throne, 
when  a  new  Law  issues  from  Him,  and  a  new  Saviour 
tabernacles  in  clay.  Till  then,  Jesus  will  be  the  fresh, 
unctuous  Teacher  of  the  race,  speaking  to  every  suc- 
ceeding generation  of  men  in  the  same  tones  of  author- 
ity that  he  uttered  to  that  gathered  throng  of  Jews  on 
the  mountain  slope  of  Palestine. 

"We,  indeed,  can  never  speak  on  religious  themes 
with  the  same  decisiveness  and  authority  as  Jesus 
did,  except  as  we  simply  repeat  His  words.  And  yet 
even  we  may  speak  with  a  degree  of  authority  on  tlie 
high  themes  of  the  soul  and  its  salvation — of  God, 
and  of  Christ  His  Son — of  all  spiritual  and  eternal 
things.  As  we  take  the  things — the  words  of  Christ, 
or  rather  as  the  Holy  Spirit  takes  them  and  shows 
them  unto  us — as  they  j)ass  through  us  working  their 
Divine  work  in  all  our  faculties — as  they  are  woven 
into  us — as  we  come  to  realize  them  in  our  own  ex- 
perience, and  to  live  them  and  show  tliem  forth  in 
our  daily  lives  ; — we  too  shall  begin  to  speak  of  them 

11* 


/ 

250  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

with  authority.  The  thing  we  live  is  the  thing  of 
power.  We  speak  truths  that  we  have  not  lived,  and 
there  is  a  hollow  ring  to  our  speech.  "We  speak  the 
truth  that  we  have  wrought  out  in  our  own  souls,  and 
we  speak  "  as  one  having  authority." 


XXIII. 

LIGHT    AND    ITS    RESPONSIBILITIES. 

For  ye  were  sometime  darkness^  hut  now  are  ye  light  in  the  Lord  ; 
icallc  as  children  of  the  Light. — Ephesians  v.  8. 

THIS  is  said  to  a  whole  chiircli,  one  of  tlie  purest 
and  best  that  crowned  the  labors  of  Paul.  They 
were  darkness — they  are  light,  not  in  themselves — 
that  is  impossible,  but  in  Christ,  and  they  are  ex- 
horted to  walk  as  children  of  the  light.  These  are 
the  thoughts  lying  on  the  surface  of  the  text. 

These  Christians  were  once  dwrkness.  The  word 
is  expressive  and  emphatic — not  dark,  but  darkness, 
the  abstract  darkness,  is  used  to  set  forth  their  former 
state.  This  is  said  in  part  with  reference  to  their 
former  position  as  Gentiles — outside  the  pale  of  Jewry, 
unvisited  by  any  of  those  fainter  illuminations  that 
rested  upon  that  favored  land.  With  respect  to  any 
tnie  knowledge  of  God  and  of  that  spiritual  world  of 
wdiich  He  is  the  centre  and  glory,  they  were  all  dark- 
ness. Tliey  groped  as  men  would  do  on  the  earth  if 
sun,  moon  and  stars  were  stricken  from  the  sky.  The 
material  world  would  be  a  reality,  if  it  swung  a  cold 


252  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

and  silent,  dead  thing  in  darkness ;  but  no  living  crea- 
ture, upon  the  presumption  that  life  could  be  sustained 
in  it,  could  find  his  way  over  it.  He  would  move  in 
terrible  mazes — wander  as  in  endlessly  winding  laby- 
rinths to  no  end,  no  goal.  The  spiritual  world  might 
be  a  reality — its  monarch  might  sit  on  its  central 
throne — his  servitors  of  other  orders  might  move  in 
their  lofty  spheres,  run  their  sublime  errands,  come 
to  their  goal ;  but  if  no  light  from  it  shone  upon  our 
world,  we  should  pass  our  days  in  darkness.  In  all 
intellectual  apprehensions  of  it,  in  all  the  impulses 
that  came  from  it,  in  all  the  breadth  and  force  it  could 
give  us,  it  would  be  as  though  it  were  not.  E"ow  this 
was  the  fact  with  regard  to  the  Gentiles.  Darkness 
brooded  over  the  vast  realm  of  the  spiritual.  They 
were  shut  in  to  the  material.  If  thought  ever  wan- 
dered  into  the  domain  of  the  spiritual,  it  went  with- 
out a  guide ;  if  a  question  was  ever  dropped  into  it, 
it  was  like  a  pebble  dropped  into  ocean's  depths. 

It  is  not  relevant  to  the  subject  to  j)ause  and  ask 
how  this  darkness  came  upon  them — whether  it  was 
a  Divine  judgment  visiting  them  for  personal  viola- 
tions of  duty,  or  a  disciplinary  regime  needful  for  the 
education  and  ultimate  elevation  of  the  race.  With 
the  fact,  not  the  reasons  of  the  fact  we  have  now  to 
do.     They  were  darkness. 

The  statement  is  not  true  to  the  same  extent  with 
reference  to  such  as  are  here  under  the  light  of  the  Gos- 


LIGHT   AND    ITS    RESPONSIBILITIES.  253 

pel.  However  they  may  treat  it,  the  Gospel  does  give 
all  some  illumination.  It  does  cast  some  radiance  over 
God  and  the  world  over  which  He  presides.  Men 
may  shut  their  eyes,  but  it  is  hardly  so  dark  under 
the  glare  of  the  sun,  as  in  the  darkness  of  midnight. 
Some  rays  ever  will  steal  in  through  the  closed  lids. 
Men  here  and  now  can  hardly  be  as  benighted  as  in 
heathen  lands  in  regard  to  spiritual  verities.  And 
yet  how  often  is  it  the  testimony  of  those  w^ho  have 
come  to  see  themselves  and  Christ,  and  eternal  reali- 
ties— those  who  have  sat  under  the  sound  of  the  Gos- 
pel from  their  childliood  : — "  w^e  were  in  darkness,  we 
groped  even  at  noonday,  we  did  not  see,  we  did  not 
hear,  the  spiritual  realm  was  all  shut  out  from  us  and 
we  from  it.  We  heard  with  the  hearing  of  the  out- 
ward ear,  but  we  did  not  understand."  It  is  among 
the  simplest  and  most  obtrusive  facts  of  life,  that  here 
where  we  are,  now  in  the  day  in  which  we  live,  the 
vast  mass  of  men  have  no  quick  perceptions  of  spirit- 
ual truths,  no  vivid  realizations  of  them.  They  move 
all  encompassed  by  them,  and  yet  they  penetrate  not 
to  the  seat  of  their  life  to  quicken  and  draw  it  into 
their  own  higher  sphere.  The  inner  ear  is  dull — their 
eye  have  they  closed — they  are  in  the  broad  blaze 
of  the  Gospel,  and  yet  in  darkness.  Again,  I  say,  I 
have  at  present  to  do  with  facts,  not  with  the  reasons 
of  the  facts.  Men  all  about  us  are  in  darkness,  pecu- 
liarly so  with  reference  to  their  own  highest  interests ; 


254  THOUGHTS   FOR   THE    CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

if  thej  were  not,  they  would  not,  could  not  act  and  live 
as  they  do  wholly  for  the  seen  and  temporal,  not  at 
all  for  the  invisible  and  eternal.  That  which  affects, 
moulds  men,  they  see  and  are  alive  to — to  that  which 
does  not,  they  are  dead. 

But  the  Apostle  speaks  of  a  change,  a  transition 
from  darkness  to  light.  Ye  were  darkness — ye  are 
light.  Keference  is  here  made  not  to  the  agencies, 
whether  Divine  or  human,  or  both,  by  which  this  tran- 
sition was  secured,  but  simply  to  the  transition  itself. 
Ye  were  darkness  with  respect  to  all  the  higher  truths 
of  the  Divine  realm — ye  are  light ! 

In  the  natural  world,  we  are  accustomed  to  these 
transitions  from  darkness  to  light.  We  stand  on  some 
hill-top  in  the  gloom  of  night  when  clouds  cover  the 
heavens — the  garish  day  gone,  and  none  of  the  glories 
of  night  visible.  We  are  wrapped  in  gloom,  and  our 
spirits  take  their  hue  perhaps  from>  the  brooding  dark- 
ness. The  within  and  the  without  correspond.  We 
stand  there  again  when  the  sun  has  Avheeled  up  the 
eastern  sky  and  flooded  all  the  extending  panorama 
with  his  light,  and  how  great  the  change  !  But  this 
is  slight,  compared  with  the  change  that  comes  over 
the  soul  when  it  passes  from  a  state  where  this  world 
was  all  illumined  and  the  other  all  dark,  to  one  where 
the  other  is  all  irradiated  and  casts  a  fresher,  brighter 
glory  upon  this.  There  are  such  changes,  sometimes 
sudden,   oftener  gradual,   like  the  rising  light  that 


LIGHT   AND    ITS    RESPONSIBILITIES.  255 

shinetli  more  and  more  unto  the  perfect  day.  And 
this,  I  say,  is  among  the  common  experiences  of  life. 
Tliere  is  nothing  removed  from  the  simple  sphere  of 
the  senses,  and  the  sights  to  be  seen  there,  on  which 
a  wider  range  of  testimony  could  be  elicited  than  this 
— that  persons  who  were  once  dark  on  this  whole 
matter  of  the  spiritual  life,  are  now  light.  They 
could  tell  little  how  the  change  was  brought  about, 
but  they  could  assert,  "  whereas  we  were  blind,  we 
now  see." 

Neither  is  it  out  of  the  range  of  the  common  analo- 
gies of  life.  We  are  constantly  om'selves  passing  from 
darkness  into  light — coming  to  see  beauties,  important 
realities  that  before  were  nothing  to  us.  Our  souls  are 
like  apartments  in  an  inn.  A  guest  conies  and  retu'es 
to  this  room,  another  comes  in  and  goes  to  that,  an- 
other retires  to  a  third.  Guest  after  guest  arrives  and 
is  shown  to  his  quarters,  and  at  length  all  have  come 
and  all  retired.  Before  the  morning  dawns,  the  ser- 
vants tread  the  corridors  knocking  here,  knocking 
there.  Sleeper  after  sleeper  rouses  from  his  slumbers 
and  hurries  on  his  way,  and  to  his  tasks ;  but  it  is  long 
ere  all  are  roused.  Most  of  our  souls  are  filled  with 
powers  that  aralike  guests  asleep :  God's  servants  come 
and  knock  and  rouse  power  after  power,  but  it  is  long 
ere  all  are  awake — perhaps  none  are  all  awake.  The 
trump  of  God  Himself  alone  will  stir  all  the  faculties 
that  sleep  within  us.     Not  till  then  will   any  of  us 


256  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE    CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

come  into  all  the  illuminations,  cover  all  the  area  of 
thought  and  action  for  which  we  are  capacitated.  It 
is  true,  however,  that  we  are  ever  coming,  on  specific 
subjects,  with  respect  to  important  departments  of 
life,  out  of  darkness  into  light.  "We  were  darkness — 
we  are  light.  We  did  not  know  about  that  subject — 
we  do  now.  We  were  not  alive  to  that  interest — we 
are  now.  We  did  not  know  that  person — we  do  know 
him  now.  That  rich  soul  living  close  beside  us  or 
coming  in  upon  our  beat  from  far,  was  all  a  hidden 
mine  to  us  but  recently,  now  it  is  revealed  to  us  and 
we  are  digging  in  that  mine.  We  are  perpetually 
making  transitions  from  darkness  into  light ; — how 
should  it  be  thought  strange  then  that,  with  respect 
to  the  most  important  interests  of  all,  we  should  be 
making  transitions  from  darkness  into  light  ?  Ye  did 
not  see — ye  now  do  see ;  ye  were  darkness — ye  are 
light. 

But  you  will  mark  that  the  Apostle  says,  ''  Ye 
are  light  in  the  Lord."  This  is  a  most  important 
statement  or  qualification.  If  there  was  a  transition 
from  darkness  to  light,  it  was  not  by  any  light  intro- 
duced into  and  inhering  in  themselves,  but  by  a  light 
wholly,  outside  of  themselves,  in  which  jthey  stood  and 
saw ;  and  that  Light  was  the  Lord  or  Christ. 

The  difi'erence  between  a  land  in  spiritual  dark- 
ness, and  one  in  spiritual  light,  is  the  difference  be- 
tween a  land  without  Christ  and  a  land  with  Christ ; 


LIGHT   AND   ITS   EESPONSIBILITIES.  257 

and  the  difference  between  a  soul  in  darkness  and 
one  in  liglit,  is  the  difference  between  a  soul  that  sees 
with  its  own  light,  and  one  that  sees  in  Christ's  light. 
Most  of  what  we  know  about  God,  Christ  communi- 
cates. He  came  to  reveal  the  Father.  Most  that  we 
know  about  the  spiritual  realm,  He  has  told  us.  Most 
that  we  know  about  ourselves  and  our  future  destiny, 
comes  from  Him.  He  is  the  Light  to  the  world,  and 
they  that  are  in  Him  and  walk  in  Him  and  they  only, 
are  in  the  light. 

Light  in  the  Lord.  In  the  natural  world,  God 
makes  certain  bodies  fountains  of  light ;  we  pass  be- 
yond their  range,  and  we  pass  out  of  light,  we  exclude 
ourselves  voluntarily,  or  are  excluded  from  their  radi- 
ance, and  we  are  in  darkness.  "We  allow  the  preroga- 
tive of  God  here — to  illumine  the  material  worlds  from 
such  centres  of  light  as  He  has  made  for  that  pur- 
230se.  We  do  not  claim  that  God  should  illumine  us 
from  anything,  or  from  nothing.  We  are  glad  to  go 
where  the  light  shines,  and  to  see  within  the  range 
of  the  bodies  that  are  the  depositories  of  light. 

So  in  the  spiritual  world,  Christ  at  least  to  us  is 
the  Illuminator.  God  has  made  Him  the  Deposit- 
ary of  light  for  us.  If  we  see,  we  see  in  Him,  if  we 
are  dark,  it  is  because  we  are  out  of  the  range  of  His 
light.  The  Spirit,  in  all  its  workings  within  us,  does 
not  import  light  into  us  and  put  it  on  deposit — not 
so  at  alL     It  is  not  the  work  of  the  Spirit  of  God  to 


THOUGHTS   FOR  THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

create  light,  or  to  be  the  orb  from  which  it  shall 
emanate  ujdou  our  souls.  He  neither  makes  light, 
nor  imparts  it  directly.  He,  in  this  matter,  is  mainly 
a  guide.  He  takes  us  by  the  hand  and  brings  us  out 
of  darkness  into  light — the  light  that  already  shines. 
He  does  not  make  Christ,  but  reveals  Him  to  us — 
enables  us  to  see  Him  as  He  is — ''  the  Light  that 
lighteth  every  man  that  cometh  into  the  world."  He 
anoints  our  eyes,  not  to  see  something  that  did  not 
before  exist, — not  to  cast  more  intense  glories  about 
Christ — not  to  add  one  iota  to  His  brightness,  but 
just  to  see  Him  as  He  is — the  Light  of  our  world  and 
our  race.  "We  are  led  into  Christ,  and  when  we  see 
Him,  we  have  passed  out  of  darkness.  We  are  light 
in  the  Lord. 

But  there  is  an  exhortation  growing  out  of  these 
truths. 

Ye  were  darkness — ye  are  light.  The  light  shines 
wholly  from  Christ  the  Lord.  Now  walk  as  children 
of  the  light !  On  the  theatre  of  the  natural  world,  we 
see  what  vast  opportunities  and  vast  responsibilities 
are  involved  in  the  possession  of  sunlight.  We  see 
that  we  can  and  are  expected  to  do  in  the  day,  what 
we  could  not  do  in  the  night.  It  is  in  the  light,  not 
in  the  darkness  that  we  do  all  the  work  of  life.  A 
world  in  darkness  would  be  rolling  like  a  cold,  dead, 
rough  thing :  a  race  in  darkness  could  never  serve 
itself  or  others.     So  in  the  spiritual  world,  we  can 


LIGHT   AND   ITS   RESPONSIBILITIES.  259 

and  will  do  nothing  in  the  darkness,  but  all  in  the 
light.  We  are  in  the  light  now.  Tlie  Dayspring 
from  on  high  hath  visited  ns.  Our  eye  has  been 
opened  to  see,  our  heart  illumined  by  the  visitation 
of  Jesus  the  Light  of  our  world :  we  should  walk  as 
children  of  the  light. 

It  might  be  claimed  that  we  do  so  on  the  ground 
of  gratitude.  Of  all  the  gifts  of  God,  this  is  the 
greatest — light  shed  on  Himself — the  clouds  removed 
from  those  interests  that  most  concern  us — themes 
standing  clear  that  were  once  obscure — the  way  of 
pardon  and  peace  all  opened ;  what  vast  blessings 
these  !  What  shall  we  render  to  the  Lord  for  them 
all  ?  This  first  and  most,  just  to  walk  as  children 
of  the  light,  not  as  though  we  had  it  not.  The  illu- 
minated have  a  walk  unlike  the  benighted, — let  them 
observe  it,  and  thus  give  the  sweetest  return  that  lies 
within  the  compass  of  their  ability.  We  are  in  the 
light — we  should  walk  as  children  of  the  light,  lest 
we  lose  the  light  we  have.  Tlie  light  itself,  indeed, 
will  never  grow  less.  Christ  is,  like  Him  whom  He 
came  to  unfold,  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  for- 
ever. He  will  ever  shine  with  not  a  ray  obscured. 
But  it  is  one  thing  to  have  the  light  in  the  world,  and 
quite  another  thing  to  see  it.  The  best  way  to  see 
the  light  more  and  more,  is  to  walk  in  it.  Walk  in 
it — walk  toward  it,  stationary  in  body,  yet  progi*es- 
sive  in   soul,   moving   on  swifter   and   still   swifter 


260  THOUGHTS   FOE   THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

wing  toward  Christ  the  great  Light :  He  will  fill  more 
and  more  the  soul's  vision  with  His  beanty. 

Ye  have  it ;  — walk  in  the  Light  as  cMldren  of  it, 
as  though  yon  were  to  the  manor  born,  as  though 
you  were  not  once  aliens,  clear  outside  of  it,  but  as 
though  you  were  the  born  children  of  the  Light. 
That  is  the  beauty  of  it,  that  we  come  into  the  posses- 
sion of  Light,  and  may  walk  in  it  as  children  walk  in 
the  light  of  a  home.  The  very  light  of  God  will  grow 
dim  to  us,  if  having  it,  we  fail  to  walk  in  it. 

By  the  fact  then  that  we  have  the  Light,  by  the 
fact  that  we  are  the  children  of  the  Light,  by  the 
glorious  fact  that  we  who  were  sometime  darkness  are 
now  in  the  light,  by  the  fact  that  the  light  is  given 
us  not  to  gratify  our  curiosity  but  to  live  in,  by  the 
other  fact  that  it  will  grow  dim  if  we  fail  to  walk  in 
it,  and  will  brighten  more  and  more  unto  the  per- 
fect day  if  we  do  walk  in  it ;  by  all  these  considera- 
tions, let  us,  my  Christian  Brethren,  placed  where  we 
are — ^let  us  walk  in  the  Light.  The  Father  of  Lights 
from  His  Throne  bids  us  so  to  walk.  It  will  be  a  walk 
of  peace  and  an  end  of  glory. 

"  Walk  in  the  light !  so  shalt  thou  know 

That  fellowship  of  love 
His  Spirit  only  can  bestow, 

Who  reigns  in  light  above. 
Walk  in  the  light !  and  thine  shall  be 

A  path,  though  thorny,  bright ; 
For  God,  by  grace,  shall  dwell  in  thee, 

And  God  Himself  is  Light ! " 


XXIV. 

THE    CHRISTIAN'S    LIFE    DEPENDENT    ON    THE    LIFE    OF 
CHRIST. 

Because  I  live,  ye  shall  Ike  also. — John  xiv.  19. 

THEKE  are  what  we  may  call  great  central  lives, 
lives  on  whicli  other  lives  more  or  less  numerous 
depend.  It  might  almost  be  said  of  whole  nations  in 
critical  periods  of  their  history,  that  their  very  exis- 
tence depends  on  a  single  man.  If  he  lives,  they  live, 
if  he  dies,  they  die.  Institutions  that  have  blessed 
and  adv^anced  the  race,  have  been  originated,  and  for 
a  long  time  sustained  by  the  efforts  of  single  men,  and 
even  after  these  men  have  been  long  dead,  their  bene- 
factions have  been  their  support. 

There  is  a  projectile  force  to  character,  to  moral 
influence,  that  impels  it  on  to  act  powerfully  on  suc- 
ceeding generations  and  among  distant  people.  Both 
the  good  and  evil  that  men  do  live  after  them.  We 
all  of  us  live  in  our  characters  and  our  influence. 
Being  dead  we  yet  speak.  Christ  was  about  to  leave 
His  disciples.  He  promised,  however,  that  lie  would 
not  leave  them   comfortless,  but  would   come  unto 


262  THOUGHTS   FOR  THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

them :  ^'  Because  I  live,  ye  shall  live  also."  Christ 
was  indeed  about  to  die,  but  the  grave  was  not  to 
hold  Him.  He  would  live — live  a  life  above  all  harm 
or  accident,  far  removed  from  all  the  power  of  His 
foes ;  a  life  eternal,  glorious,  in  Heaven ;  and  living 
Himself,  His  disciples  should  live  also,  live  not  a  mere 
natural  life  of  the  flesh,  for  that  was  not  necessarily 
to  be  continued,  because  Christ  lived,  but  live  a  Di- 
vine, spiritual  life.  The  Saviour  thus  bases  their  life 
upon  His  own :  He  would  live,  and  so  they  would 
live;  His  life  none  could  touch  to  harm,  and  so  their 
life  none  could  touch  to  harm.  There  is  needed  but 
the  life  of  Christ  to  keep  their  life  agoing.  Theirs 
would  stop  when  and  only  when  His  did. 

Christ  enters  not  here  into  any  nice  discussions ; 
He  makes  no  revelation  as  to  the  manner  in  which 
their  life  was  dependent  on  His  own.  This  is  a  sphere 
in  which  had  He  attempted  to  introduce  them,  they 
probably  wonld  have  been  lost.  It  would  certainly 
have  availed  little  for  their  comfort  in  the  dark  night 
that  lowered  upon  them.  What  they  wanted,  and 
what  we  want,  is  not  nice  discussion  as  to  the  specific 
methods  in  which  our  real,  our  spiritual  life  flows 
from  and  is  dependent  upon  Christ,  but  the  broad, 
outstanding  fact  shining  out  clear,  distinct  as  the  sun, 
and  that  fact  Christ  presents  for  their  comfort,  and 
not  for  theirs  only,  but  for  the  comfort  of  all  His  peo- 
ple in  all  time,  and  as  for  that  matter,  for  all  eternity. 


THE   christian's    LIFE.  263 

Traced  to  its  ultimate  analysis,  we  are  compelled 
to  tlic  conclusion  that  all  life  is  dependent  moment 
by  moment  upon  its  Author.  It  is  not  given  in  large 
deposits,  so  that  when  the  creature  has  once  secured 
them,  he  can  live  apart  from  the  Creator.  It  were 
equally  unphilosophical  and  unscriptural  to  assert  or 
believe  this.  The  creature  is  never  for  a  moment  of 
his  existence  independent  of  his  Maker.  He  lives 
entirely  in  Him,  and  sundered  for  a  moment  from 
Him,  he  falls  and  perishes.  God  lives,  and  because 
of  this,  the  creature  lives  also. 

This  is  so  with  respect  to  all  life.  It  is  certainly 
not  less  so  in  regard  to  the  highest  form  and  style  of 
life — the  Spiritual  and  Divine. 

Christ  affirms  that  this  life  is  in  Him.  I  will  not 
stop  to  indicate  the  bearing  of  this  declaration  of 
Christ  upon  His  proper  Divinity.  I  shall  not  at- 
tempt to  show  how  living  and  mighty  a  proof  the 
existence  of  spiritual  life  is  of  the  Divinity  of  Him 
who  sustains  it.  I  simply  take  the  words  of  Christ, 
that  in  Him,  both  as  to  its  origin  and  its  continuance, 
this  Life  is.  There  is  the  fact — Christ  lives ;  and 
there  is  the  other  fact — that  His  disciples  shall  live 
also.     The  one  is  intervolved  with  the  other. 

All  life  in  such  a  world  as  ours,  has  its  innumerable 
hazards. 

"  The  moment  we  begin  to  live, 
We  all  begin  to  die." 


264:  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

Death  has  been  as  potent  as  life  all  through  the 
history  of  our  globe.  Mighty  as  has  been  the  wave 
of  life  that  has  rolled,  and  still  rolls  over  it,  so  mighty 
has  been  and  is  the  following  wave  of  death.  If  life 
has  been  vigorous  and  stirring,  leaving  its  mementos 
thickly  scattered  in  the  earth,  so  also  has  death  been 
as  vigorous,  following  swiftly  in  the  triack  of  life, 
moving  with  it  and  undoing  its  work,  so  that  nothing 
is  so  notable  in  our  dwelling  place  as  the  perpetual, 
endless  battle  between  life  and  death. 

With  respect  to  all  lower  and  inferior  forms  and 
types  of  life,  we  can  say  that  they  have  no  assurance 
of  continuance.  God  lives,  but  it  does  not  follow  that 
they  live  also.  But  with  respect  to  the  highest  style 
of  life,  the  Spiritual,  it  has  an  assurance  of  continu- 
ance on  the  basis  of  the  simple  fact  of  Christ's  life. 
He  lives,  and  it  shall  live  also.  Like  other  forms  of 
life,  and  more  than  these,  it  has  its  hazards,  its  foes. 
It  fights  its  battles,  and  but  for  the  life  of  Christ,  like 
these  it  would  yield  and  perish.  With  respect  to  it 
only  has  Christ  said,  "  I  live,  and  it  shall  live  also." 

It  is  upon  no  weak  and  uncertain  basis  that  our 
spiritual  life  rests.  If  it  did,  we  might  well  fear  for 
it,  and  fear  for  it  the  more,  the  more  highly  we  re- 
garded it.  Raise  one's  estimate  in  the  highest  pos- 
sible degree  of  this  Spiritual  life,  and  then  make  it 
dependent  solely  or  mainly  upon  beings  or  things 
that  partake  of  the  uncertainties  and  mutability  of 


265 


earth,  and  you  excite  the  darkest  apprehensions.  In 
proportion  to  the  value  you  put  upon  anything  what- 
ever, do  you  wish  some  permanent  basis  on  which  to 
rest  your  hope  of  its  continuance.  Deposit  a  compara- 
tively worthless  treasure  in  unsafe  hands,  and  your 
sleep  will  not  be  broken  ;  but  place  your  all  in  the 
same  hands,  and  you  will  have  little  repose  till  it  is  res- 
cued from  them.  Now  with  respect  to  our  Spiritual 
life,  Christ  is  its  fountain,  its  depositary.  It  is  hid  with 
Him  in  God,  to  use  another  declaration  of  the  Scrip- 
ture. It  is  as  safe  as  He  is.  If  He  is  above  all  acci- 
dent, it  is.  If  no  enemy  can  approach  to  injure  Him, 
none  can  approach  to  injure  it.  If  He  is  housed  in 
Heaven  above  all  the  mutations  of  eartli,  so  is  it. 
He  lives,  and  if  we  are  His,  we  shall  live  also,  live 
as  safely,  live  as  surely  as  He  does,  live  while  every- 
thing else  that  is  not  in  Him,  and  to  which  He  has 
not  pledged  perpetuity,  goes  down. 

But  it  may  be  asked  here,  have  we  nothing  to  do 
with  keeping  this  spiritual  life  agoing  when  once  it 
is  ours  ?  Because  Christ  is  its  fountain,  have  we  no 
care  of  it ;  because  He  is  its  guardian,  are  we  not  to 
watch  ?  Here  comes  up  the  old  and  ever-recurriiig 
question  between  our  agency  and  the  Divine  agency 
in  human  life  and  conduct,  about  what  we  liave  to 
do,  and  what  God  has  to  do  in  human  afi'airs, — a 
question  in  which  I  have  less  and  less  interest,  be- 
cause it  is  utterly  insoluble.  No  human,  probably 
12 


THOUGHTS   FOR   THE    CHRTSTIAN    LIFE. 

no  angelic  mind  can  fix  the  precise  time  when  the 
one  begins  and  the  other  ends.  The  fact  is,  neither 
has  any  definite  limits.  The  human  and  the  Di\dne 
are  all  interblended  in  all  that  man  does ;  God  is  in 
it  all,  and  man  is  in  it  all.  God  is  in  us  from  begin- 
ning to  end,  working  in  us  to  will  and  to  do.  Christ 
is  the  fountain  and  support  of  our  spiritual  life,  and 
this  makes  it  safe ;  we  have  some  agency  in  its  con- 
tinuance, and  this  makes  us  Tightly  solicitous  and 
painstaking.  If  it  were  a  life  out  of  some  Divine  and 
Omnipotent  being,  it  would  be  one  that  we  should 
dread  to  accept  if  it  were  proffered  to  us,  and  if 
it  were  a  life  for  which  we  had  no  care  at  all, 
we  should  become  heedless  and  -  indifferent.  We 
have  just  that  nice  balance  of  dependence  on  Christ 
on  the  one  side,  and  just  t3iat  felt  necessity  of 
personal  effort  and  watchfulness  on  the  other,  as 
will  keep  us  from  painful  solicitude,  and  from  de- 
structive sloth. 

Christ  lives,  and  we  live  ;  but  all  life  is  active,  it 
moves  in  specific  directions,  it  has  an  end  and  an 
aim  that  is  lofty  in  proportion  to  the  value  and  dig- 
nity of  the  life.  A  life  resembling  death,  is  no  life, 
so  that  to  preserve  a  spiritual  life,  though  it  be  in 
Christ  as  to  its  fountain,  that  shall  not  beget  action, 
the  highest  and  noblest  action  in  us,  is  to  preserve 
a  life  that  is  not  life  at  all.  There  need  be  no  em- 
barrassment in   adjusting  precisely  what   we    have    J 


THE   CHRISTIAN    LIFE.  267 

to  do  and  what  Christ  has  to  do  in  keeping  our 
Divine  life  quick  and  active,  simply  because  we 
are  wise  only  as  we  attempt  no  nice  adjustment  of 
the  matter  at  all. 

As  we  have  said,  man  cannot  adjust  it  all  now, 
and  perhaps  never.  Paul  says,  "  I  live,"  and  he 
stated  a  truth,  and  yet  not  the  whole  truth,  for  he 
adds,  "  yet  not  I,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me."  He  at- 
tempts no  delicate  tracery  of  the  boundary  between 
his  own  independent  life,  and  the  life  of  Christ  in 
him.  Both  facts  he  assumes  and  believes.  After  his 
conversion,  we  doubt  whether  Paul  spent  much  time 
in  the  effort  to  decide  how  much  of  that  changed  life 
which  he  lived  was  his  own,  and  how  much  was 
Christ's.  It  was  all  his  own  in  one  aspect  of  it,  and 
all  Christ's  in  another  aspect  of  it.  In  its  outward, 
visible,  presentable  form,  it  was  all  Paul's ; — in  its 
inward  fountain  and  perpetual  inspiration,  it  was 
Christ's.  It  was  a  Divine  life  working  through  the 
powers  and  the  life  of  the  great  Apostle.  So  with 
all  of  us  that  have  this  life  ; — it  is  ours,  and  yet  it  is 
Christ's,  He  in  us,  and  we  in  Him  ;  and  neither  here 
nor  hereafter  will  there  be  any  need  of  attempts  to 
discriminate  between  our  own  and  the  workings  of 
Christ  in  us.  In  that  great  day,  when  the  just  are 
gathered  on  the  right  hand,  Christ  will  attribute  all 
their  doings  to  themselves,  not  so  much  solicitous 
to  refer  them  to  His  own  impelling  and  sustaining 


268  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN   LITE. 

power.  "  Inasmuch  as  ye  did  unto  the  least  of  these 
my  brethren."  And  then  on  the  other  hand,  there 
will  be  on  their  part,  an  utter  abnegation  and  aban- 
donment of  all  self-originating  goodness  and  good 
doing,  and  an  undivided  and  most  hearty  ascription 
of  praise  to  Him  who  hath  wrought  all  their  works 
in  them.  In  their  estimation  of  it,  their  life  will  be 
a  life  all  of  Christ  and  all  to  Him,  and  through  eter- 
nity, all  for  Him  and  His  glory.  "  Because  I  live, 
ye  shall  live  also." 

What  a  preciousness  it  gives  to  the  life  of  Christ, 
that  the  life  of  all  true  disciples  hangs  suspended 
upon  it !  The  multitude  of  men  that  have  no  Divine 
life  and  no  wish  to  attain  it,  may  be  indifferent  to 
Christ.  If  we  could  suppose  a  man  indifferent  to 
what  the  sun  in  the  heavens  imparts,  he  would  have 
no  care  whether  the  sun  should  rise  another  day,  or 
go  out  to-night  in  darkness ;  and  so,  if  there  be  any 
heedless  of  a  Divine,  holy  life  that  is  derived  from 
Christ  and  depends  upon  Him,  they  will  be  heedless 
of  Him.  They  will  not  care  to  hear  of  Him ;  they 
have  no  living,  blessed  connection  with  Him.  But  let 
one  be  earnestly  desirous  to  live  such  a  life — a  life 
like  that  of  Christ,  a  life  culminating  in  the  blessed- 
ness of  Heaven,  and  then  Christ  will  be  all  and  in  all 
to  him.  If  we  ever  live  a  true,  powerful,,  pure  life, 
it  will  be  in  Christ.  There  is  no  holy  life  apart  from 
Him.     He  is  its  fountain.     We  cannot  have  or  keep 


THE   CHRISTIAN    LIFE.  269 

it  ourselves.     If  we  are  in  Christ  now,  then  when  He. 
who  is  here  and  now  our  Life,  shall  appear,  we  shall 
also  appear  with  Him  in  glory.     The  life  that  we  live 
in  Him  now,  is  the  pledge  that  we  shall  live  with  him 
forever. 


XXV. 

GOD    THE    SPRING    OF    ALL    MERCY    AND    COMFORT. 

Blessed  he  God.,  even  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.,  the 
Father  of  mercies  and  the  God  of  all  comfort, — 2  Coe.  i.  3. 

TOU  may  know  where  a  man's  heart  is  by  mark- 
ing the  thoughts  that  spring  to  his  lips  in  his 
freest  and  most  spontaneous  hours.  Some  men's 
natures  are  full  of  music,  and  they  are  warbling  it  in 
their  souls,  and,  if  their  lips  serve  them,  with  these  too 
all  the  day,  while  their  dreams  are  in  Jhe  world  of 
song.  Whatever  is  the  sphere  in  which  we  circle 
interiorly,  that  is  the  one  in  which  our  tongues  move 
also. 

Now  there  is  no  mistaking  what  is  the  inner  spirit 
of  Paul,  by  watching  the  ready  gushings  of  his  soul, 
watching  the  words,  the  sentiments  that  first  spring 
to  his  tongue  when  it  is  set  free.  "  Blessed  le  God.^^ 
His  heart  is  full  of  God.  God  is  written  on  it.  Said 
a  French  officer  under  the  tortures  of  the  surgeon's 
knife,  "  Plunge  a  little  deeper  and  you  will  reach  the 
Emperor,"  that  is,  if  I  interpret  it  aright,  "  Go  down 


GOD  THE   SPRING   OF   ALL   MERCY    AND   COMFORT.       271 

a  little  farther  to  the  very  seat  of  life,  and  there  im- 
printed indelibly,  ready  for  your  revelations,  you  will 
find  the  image  of  the  Emperor  whom  I  love  and  serve 
and  follow  even  unto  the  death."  So  with  Paul :  on 
his  heart  was  the  image  of  his  King,  the  King  of 
kings ;  penetrating  all  his  powers  was  the  spirit  of 
that  King,  his  heart  glowed  with  love,  his  life  was 
filled  with  service,  and  when  he  spoke,  his  lips  were 
filled  with  blessing.  "  Blessed  be  God  !  "  Ask  a 
man  of  simple,  unsophisticated  temper,  a  man  that 
can  interpret  a  simple  heart  when  he  sees  it,  and  he 
will,  he  must  say  that  such  language  as  this  is  not 
the  language  of  one  who  was  bent  on  acting  a  part 
and  making  a  show. 

There  are  some  things  that  cannot  be  counterfeited 
among  hearts  that,  in  their  own  experience,  know  what 
the  true  is  and  how  it  utters  itself.  Hypocrites  de- 
ceive hypocrites  by  just  passing  a  little  out.  of  their 
beat,  and  taking  them  on  another  tack,  but  down- 
right, true  men  that  have  ever  lived  in  the  atmosphere 
of  tnith,  all  whose  looks  are  moulded  by  an  inner 
spirit  of  truth,  all  whose  words  have  dropped  since 
speech  began  out  of  a  true  soul,  such  know  the  sound 
of  true  speech  when  they  hear  it.  Xow  these  would 
know  that  such  language  as  this  of  Paul  had  the  true 
ring  in  it.  "  Blessed  be  God."  That,  in  such  a  connec- 
tion as  this,  comes  fi-om  a  heart  that  sends  it  spon- 
taneously forth.     Out  of  the  abundance  of  the  heart, 


272  THOUGHTS   FOR  THE  CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

the  moutli  has  spoken.  Blessed  he  God.  God  is  in 
the  heart,  and  the  heart  is  filled  with  yearnings  that 
He  may  be  blessed. 

In  one  sense,  we  can  add  nothing  to  God  when  we 
bless,  as  in  an  important  sense,  we  can  subtract  noth- 
ing from  Him  when  we  curse ;  and  yet  I  am  not  sure,^ 
but  that  in  our  common  thought  of  Him,  and  even 
in  our  loftiest  conception  of  Him  we  retake  Him  too 
impassive.  God  certainly  cannot  and  ought  not  to 
be  conceived  of  as  indifierent  to  our  feelings  and 
speeches  about  Him.  We  are  not  to  lift  Him  so 
out  of  the  range  of  our  sympathies,  that  we  shall 
feel  that  He  does  not  care  whether  our  hearts  and 
lips  are  filled  with  cursings  or  blessings.  We  are 
not  to  carry  Him  to  such  a  height,  that  a  curse 
shot  against  His  throne  will  be  received  just  as  a 
blessing  springing  from  lips  that  convey  the  senti- 
ments oi  a  full  heart.  The  greatest  man,  the  greatest 
monarch  with  kingdoms  at  his  beck  and  myriad  troops 
ready  to  start  at  the  blast  of  his  bugles,  if  he  were 
walking  the  streets  of  his  metropolis  in  disguise,  would 
not  be  independent  of  the  free,  natural  expression  of 
the  humblest  dweller  in  that  metropolis.  We  may 
take  the  man  of  vastest  mental  resources  and  physical 
power,  and  if  in  the  darkness  of  midnight  he  should 
overhear  the  prayers  of  a  simple  cottager  sent  heaven- 
ward for  him,  he  could  not  be  indifferent  to  it.  If 
he  had  a  heart,  such  a  prayer  springing  from  such  a 


lowly  spot  would  afiect  him  more  than  the  loftiest 
eulogies  of  smooth-tongued  courtiers.  And  we  do 
not  exalt  God  when  we  so  lift  Him  out  of  the  range 
of  our  sympathy,  as  to  make  EQm  indifferent  to 
what  His  creatures  think  or  say  about  Him.  He  is 
not  indifferent  to  it.  He  is  not  out  of  the  reach  of 
our  hearts.  Blessing  and  cursing  do  not  affect  Him 
alike.  A  Paul  gushing  out  as  he  does  in  our  text, 
does  not  affect  God  as  another  man  whose  lips  are 
filled  with  curses.  I  am  aware  that  neither  affects 
His  interior  character,  or  His  power,  or  His  position, 
but  if  Jesus  Christ  fairly  represents  the  Father  to  us, 
then  the  Father  is  filled  with  sorrow  or  joy  at  the 
sentiments  we  cherish  toward  Him.  "  Blessed  be 
God !  "  does  come  up  to  touch  certain  chords  in  the 
Infinite  mind  which  a  "  Cursed  be  God  !  "  cannot 
touch.  My  heart  rejects  all  ideas  of  the  sort,  that 
God  is  so  independent  of  His  enemies  that  He  would 
be  as  glad  with  a  world  in  arms  against  Him,  as  He 
would  be  with  a  world  blessing  Him.  "VVe  not  only 
affect  our  own  position  and  our  own  character  when 
we  bless  God,  but  we  also  do  add  something  to  His 

joy- 

I  am  aware  that  many  things  may  be  said  to  the 
contrary  about  the  independence  of  God  and  His  ex- 
altation above  all  human  feelings  or  speeches  about 
Him.  The  intellect  may  form  its  theories  of  God  and 
so  lift  Him  out  of  our  range  of  thought,  that  He  shall 
12* 


274  THOUGHTS   FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

sit  upon  His  throne  in  tlie  heavens  as  regardless  of 
our  feelings  as  one  of  those  material  orbs  that  sends 
down  its  rays  upon  us  and  never  yearns  for  a  "  thank 
thee  !  "  But  the  intellect  was  never  made  to  interpret 
God,  to  find  Ilim  out  even  in  such  perfection  as  we 
may.  All  estimates,  all  scientific  adjustments  of  His 
attributes  formed  by  the  intellect  alone  are  imperfect, 
yea  more,  are  false.  The  heart  is  the  true  interpreter 
of  God.  Not  he  that  knoweth,  but  he  that  loveth, 
knoweth  God.  "  He  that  dwelleth  in  love,  dwelleth 
in  God  and  God  in  him."  And  love  is  not  an  impas- 
sive thing ;  it  is  delicate,  susceptible,  pliant  in  its 
very  nature.  Love  moves  to  love,  to  listen  to  its  call, 
turns  to  heed  its  praises,  and  to  smile  at  the  voice  of 
its  blessing.  It  is  not  weakness  but  strength  to  be 
so  afiected.  All  those  views  of  God  that  make  Him 
cold  to  our  feelings,  indifi:erent  to  our  blessings,  are 
not  elevated,  but  low  views  of  Him. 

But  w^e  do  well  to  mark  the  relation  in  which 
Paul  viewed  God  while  his  heart  was  so  filled  with 
blessing.  "  Blessed  be  God,  even  the  Father  of  our 
Lord  Jesns  Christ."  I  do  not  know  that  there  are 
not  hearts  that  are  filled  with  blessing  to  God  as  they 
view  Him  and  get  the  estimate  and  measure  of  Him 
simply  from  His  works,  apart  from  all  revelations  of 
Him  in  His  Son.  I  do  not  know  but  it  may  be  so, 
and  yet  the  records  of  the  world  scarcely  have  left 
the  memory  of  such  an  one.     I  think  the  literatures 


GOD   THE    SPRING   OF   ALL   MEKOY    AND   COMFORT.       275 

of  all  nations  might  be  challenged  to  present  a  spirit 
like  Paul's,  or  lips  filled  Avith  blessing  like  his.  Where 
in  the  annals  of  Christian  nations  can  we  find  one 
spirit  flowing  out  with  such  expression  as  this : 
"  Blessed  be  God,  the  Maker  of  worlds,  and  the  Euler 
of  their  movements !  "  The  truth  is,  God  is  too  re- 
mote from  human  sympathy,  too  isolated  as  He  comes 
simply  in  His  works  to  us  to  elicit  such  gushes  of  love. 
He  afiects  other  departments  of  our  nature  elsewhere, 
but  not  onr  hearts.  The  wand  that  touches  them  is 
wielded  "by  the  God  manifest  in  the  flesh.  "Blessed 
be  God,  even  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 

We  are  all  ftimiliar  with  the  fact  that  some  aspects 
of  a  large,  rich  character  come  home  to  us  tlirough 
one  department  of  his  doings  and  some  through  an- 
other. We  all  know  that  even  a  man  cannot  get  him- 
self fairly  developed  in  one  service,  or  act,  or  speech, 
or  battle,  or  book,  or  picture.  After  we  have  seen  a 
great  man  in  public,  we  wish  to  see  him  also  in  pri- 
vate. The  greatest  single  act  of  a  man  only  presents 
him  to  us  at  an  angle.  The  battle  of  Waterloo,  and 
even  all  his  campaigns  in  Spain  do  not  present  to  pos- 
terity the  whole  character  of  Wellington.  The  great 
speeches  of  Demosthenes  do  not  let  us  into  the  in- 
terior character  of  the  man.  The  paintings  of  the 
greatest  master  do  not  permit  us  to  see  all  there  is 
in  the  soul  of  the  artist.  Sometimes  the  man  is  in 
his  works,  sometimes  not.     Sometimes  we  get  little, 


276  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE   CHKISTIAN   LIFE. 

sometimes  much  of  him  from  what  he  does.  Some- 
times he  gives  a  section  of  himself  up  and  down  in 
an  act,  speech,  work ;  sometimes  only  a  stratum. 
Sometimes  the  intellect,  sometimes  the  heart  comes 
out  in  a  given  work.  Sometimes  what  is  in  the  back- 
ground is  in  keeping  with  what  is  in  the  foreground ; 
sometimes  it  is  in  dissonance  with  it.  At  any  rate, 
it  is  very  seldom  that  we  get  a  man  fairly  before  us 
by  any  one  act  or  work.  And  when  we  come  to  God, 
it  is  surely  no  disparagement  to  Him  to  assert  that 
He  does  not,  cannot  get  Himself  fully  before  His 
creatures  in  one  work,  or  in  a  series  of  works,  in  one 
material  world,  or  in  a  whole  galaxy  of  worlds. 

If  Thomas  Chalmers  on  his  back  on  the  parlor 
floor  playing  with  his  children,  lets  us  into  his  heart 
more  than  all  the  majesty  of  his  eloquence,  if  Daniel 
Webster  under  a  tree  on  his  farm  in  Marshfield, 
planted  in  memory  of  his  son  dying  in  Mexico — 
brushing  away  a  tear  as  he  points  it  out  to  the  visitor, 
lets  us  into  his  domestic  feelings  more  than  all  the 
march  of  his  mightiest  speech,  if  a  man  in  his  family 
circle  permits  us  to  see  more  of  him  at  a  single  peep 
than  in  all  his  outside  doings,  surely  we  are  not  to 
say  that  it  is  a  disparagement  of  God  if  we  assert 
that  we  get  into  His  heart  more  by  one  moment  spent 
in  the  presence  of  His  Son,  seeing  God  in  the  mirror 
burnished  for  such  a  purpose,  than  we  can  in  all  the 
studies  of  geology  or  astronomy.     The  domesticity 


GOD   THE   SPRING   OF   ALL   MEECY    AND   COMFORT.       277 

of  God — the  Fatherliood  of  God  is  brought  to  view 
in  Jesus  as  it  is  not  and  was  not  designed  to  be  in  all 
the  works  of  His  hands.  Prove  to  me  that  nature  is 
in  the  purpose  of  God  a  full  revelation  of  God,  and  I 
will  get  from  the  study  of  nature  such  a  view  of  Him 
as  I  can.  But  if  nature  is  supplemented  by  another, 
and  in  some  aspects  of  it  a  higher  revelation,  then 
reserving  the  lower  for  what  it  was  designed  to  con- 
vey, I  will  study  the  higher  for  what  it  was  designed 
to  convey.  We  disparage  no  work  of  man  when  we 
take  it  for  what  it  was  made  to  impart,  and  we  dis- 
parage not  nature  built  by  God  when  we  study  it  for 
its  conveyances,  and  then  pass  on  to  grace  to  study 
it  for  its  conveyances.  If  two  mirrors  are  set  up  be- 
fore me  to  reflect  God,  the  one  to  reflect  some  aspects 
of  Him,  and  the  other  to  reflect  others,  I  will  look 
into  both.  I  will  study  God  anywhere,  everyw^iere, 
in  His  works,  in  His  word,  in  His  Son,  and  derive 
from  each  what  I  may.  If  the  heart  gushes  with  a 
more  free  and  full  "  Blessed  be  God,"  as  I  see  and 
call  Him  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  than 
when  I  see  and  call  Him  the  Maker  and  Sustainer  of 
the  heavens  and  the  earth,  then  I  am  only  doing  my- 
self and  Him  justice  ^vhen  I  go  for  such  a  purpose 
to  Him  in  that  relation  and  put  my  soul  into  com- 
munion with  Him  there.  If  my  Father  speaks  in 
varied  voices,  I'll  hear  Him  in  them  all.  I  will  not 
set  one  word  of  His  aside  while  I  give  myself  wholly 


278  THOUGHTS   FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

to  another.  I  will  heed  them  all.  The  blended  utter- 
ances make  up  the  harmony  of  His  teaching.  I  will 
remember  the  works  of  the  Lord,  for  "  they  are  great, 
sought  out  of  all  them  that  take  pleasure  therein  ;  " 
I  will  remember  the  word  of  the  Lord,  for  it  also  is 
great.  If  my  Father  speaks  in  the  majesty  of  the 
thimder,  I  will  be  out  and  hear  Him  there ;  if  He 
speaks  in  the  pity  of  the  cross,  I  will  be  sure  to  hear 
Him  there,  remembering  that  I  need  in  my  sin  the 
voice  of  pity  more  than  that  of  grandeur.  For  in 
continuance  the  Apostle  says,  '^  Blessed  be  God,  even 
the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  Father  of 
mercies,  and  the  God  of  all  comfort."  It  is  as  the 
Father  of  Christ  that  He  indicates  Himself  to  us  as 
the  Father  of  mercies  and  the  God  o/^all  comfort. 

The  Father  of  mercies.  There  is  something  strik- 
ing and  at  the  same  time  most  touching  and  subduing 
in  the  ]3hraseology.  Father  of  mercies.  Father  of 
mercies,  by  being  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
Father  of  mercies — the  begetter  of  them — the  foun- 
tain from  which  they  all  spring,  Christ  the  channel 
in  which  they  all  run,  flowing  here,  flowing  there, 
irrigating  a  parched  world  like  the  streams  of  the 
East  watering  its  arid  plains.  Father  of  mercies  ;  no 
mercy  in  the  earth  of  which  He  is  not  the  Father. 
Find  a  mercy  the  world  over — it  may  seem  an  estray, 
but  it  is  not,  it  has  a  legitimate  birth,  it  springs 
from  one  head,  it  has  one  Father.     Father  of  mer- 


GOD   THP]    SPRING   OF   ALL   MEECY   AND   COMFORT.       279 

cies  ; — discern  a  mercy  springing  subordinately  from 
a  human  fountain,  a  merciful  look,  word,  deed,  series 
of  deeds  ;  give  thanks  to  the  man,  but  forget  not  God 
also,  for  it  was  begotten  of  Him.  All  human  mercies 
if  they  be  not  counterfeit,  will  love  to  trace  them- 
selves up  to  Him  who  is  the  Father  of  them  all. 

It  is  to  be  emphasized  that  it  is  as  the  Father  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  that'He  is  presented  to  us  as 
the  Father  of  mercies  and  also  as  the  God  of  all  com- 
fort. I  have  said  that  Christ  domesticates  God  with 
us,  places  us  in  His  world  as  in  a  home — a  home  full 
of  sin,  but  then  how  fuller  of  mercies  than  of  sin  ; — a 
home  full  of  sorrow,  but  then  how  fuller  of  comfort 
than  of  sorrow.  We  often  see  the  sweetest  traits  in 
human  souls  brought  out  amid  our  sorrows,  just  as 
tlie  brightest  rainbows  stand  arched  against  the 
darkest  clouds.  We  would  not  for  much  lose  the 
revelations  of  our  dearest  friends  that  our  griefs  bring 
out.  A  man  never  knows  his  wife  till  she  has  lifted 
him  with  gentle  hand  out  of  his  woes,  till  she  has 
tended  hiui  through  a  severe  sickness,  and  given  that 
delicate  touch  to  the  pillow  which  her  love  knows 
how  to  give.  And  now  it  comes  to  pass  that  as  we 
do  not  know  our  friends  here  till  we  have  been  in 
sorrow,  so  we  do  not  and  cannot  know  God  till  we 
have  come  where  we  can  prove  Him  as  the  God  of  all 
comfort — all  kinds,  all  degrees  of  comfort. 

Do  not  let  us  lose  the  meaning  of  the  phrase,  God 


280  THOUGHTS   FOK   THE   CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

of  all  comfort.  Do  not  let  ns  eviscerate  it  and  reduce 
it  to  a  mere  figure  of  speech,  taking  the  juice  out  of  it. 
This  passage  means  all  that  it  says  and  more  than  we 
can  get  out  of  it.  "  The  God  of  all  comfort."  In  all 
His  greatness,  and  it  is  the  finest  part  of  His  great- 
ness, he  stoops,  nay,  he  soars  to  comfort.  The  God 
of  all  comfort.  I  see  a  dewdrop  cheering  a  thirsty 
flower,  I  know  whence  it  sprang.  I  see  a  rill  of  com- 
fort flowing  into  a  sad  soul,  I  know  its  spring — it  came 
from  God,  and  there  is  more  in  Him  than  has  ever 
come  from  Him.  God  of  grandeur,  beauty,  knowl- 
edge, power,  wisdom,  but  also  God  of  all  comfort. 

Blessed  revelation  !  and  all  through  Christ.     Let 
us  take  God  in  Christ  home  to  our  hearts. 


XXVI. 

THE  ATTRACTIVE  POWER  OF  CHRIST  ON  THE  CROSS. 

And,  J,  if  lie  lifted  up  from  the  eartli^  will  draw  all  men  unto 
me. — ^JoHN  xii.  32. 

ALLUSIOK  is  made  to  a  striking  event  in  the 
history  of  the  Jews.  They  were  in  the  wilder- 
ness. They  had  sinned.  The  wrath  of  God  was  out 
against  them.  Serpents  were  sent  to  bite  and  poison. 
The  voices  of  wailing,  and  the  cry  of  the  dying  were 
heard  in  the  camp.  Terror  and  despair  were  in  the 
hearts  and  depicted  on  the  countenances  of  all.  It 
was  over  the  slain  that  Moses  sang  the  solemn  dirge  : 

"  Thou  carriest  them  away  as  with  a  flood ;  they 
are  as  a  sleep ;  in  the  morning  they  are  like  grass 
which  groweth  up. 

"  In  the  morning  it  flourish eth  and  groweth  up  ; 
in  the  evening  it  is  cut  down  and  withereth. 

"  For  we  are  consumed  by  Thine  anger,  and  by  Thy 
wrath  are  we  troubled." 

It  was  when  death  was  on  every  hand,  and  the 
living  were  anticipating  bodingly  its  speedy  visitation, 


THOUGHTS  FOE  THE  CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

that  Moses  was  directed  to  raise  in  tlie  midst  of  the 
camp  the  brazen  serpent.  There  it  stood  aloft  in  the 
sight  of  all.  The  rays  of  the  morning  sun  caught  it 
and  elicited  in  the  ear  of  the  multitude  sweeter  music 
than  that  which  came  from  the  statue  of  Memnon. 
It  was  the  cynosure  of  all  eyes.  It  was  a  promise  of 
hope  and  life.  The  wounded  looked,  and  by  looking 
lived. 

But  it  was  the  Israelites  alone  that  could  gaze 
upon  that  strange  device.  Tliousands  far  distant  over 
the  world  could  not  look  and  see  it.  It  had  "  a  local 
habitation."  It  was  visible  only  within  a  limited  cir- 
cle. Distance  hid  it,  and  beyond  the  sweep  of  the 
natural  eye  it  had  no  magic  power. 

But  there  is  another  disease — sin.  It  has  invaded 
the  world.  It  is  the  bite  and  the  poison  of  the  old 
serpent.  It  rages  fearfully,  and  its  results  are  awfully 
disastrous.  "  It  carries  men  away  as  with  a  flood." 
For  its  cure.  One — the  man  Christ  Jesus,  has  been 
lifted  up  on  the  cross,  and  as  the  eye  of  the  dying 
Israelite,  amid  the  gathering  of  death's  shadows, 
strained  to  catch  the  sight  of  the  brazen  serpent,  so 
the  eye  of  the  dying  sinner  looks  to  Jesus.  But  it  is 
not  the  prerogative  of  the  Israelite  alone  to  look. 
The  Saviour  lifted  up  was  no  monopoly  of  the  Jews. 
They  could  not  build  palisadoes  around  the  cross  to 
exclude  all  others.  There  was  no  inner  court  for  them, 
and  an  outer  court  for  the  Gentiles.     His  declaration 


THE   ATTRACTIVE   POAVER   OF   CHRIST.  283 

is,  "  And  I,  if  I  be  lifted  up,  will  draw,  not  the  Jews 
onlj,  but  all  men." 

If  I  he  lifted.  It  was  mentioned  as  a  contingency 
then.     It  is  a  reality  now. 

Christ  has  been  lifted  up,  and  for  eighteen  cen- 
turies He  has  been  drawing  all  men,  men  of  all  ranks 
and  all  lands  unto  Himself.  It  is  not  merely  Christ, 
you  will  observe,  that  is  to  draw  men  ; — not  Christ 
with  His  heart  of  love  and  look  of  pity  ; — not  Christ 
in  all  the  excellence  of  His  character,  not  the  wonder 
of  His  miracles,  and  the  completeness  of  His  daily 
works.  It  is  Christ  lifted  up — Christ  agonizing — 
bleeding,  dying  on  Calvary.  It  was  Christ  on  the 
cross  that  stayed  nature  in  her  course,  that  caused 
her  to  clothe  herself  in  darkness,  that  made  the  rocks 
rend  and  the  earthquake.  Christ  controlled,  natm-e 
always  as  her  Lord,  but  it  was  not  till  He  hung  upon 
the  cross  that  nature  came  to  weep  in  sympathy  with 
Him,  and  send  forth  her  cry  of  agony  in  response  to 
His  own.  As  it  was  Christ  lifted  up  that  caused  such 
manifestations  then  in  nature,  so  it  is  Christ  lifted  up 
that  has  exerted  such  wondrous  influence  since.  "  I 
will  draw  all  men  unto  me." 

There  is  in  Christ  on  the  cross  the  attractive  power 
of  strangeness — what  we  may  call  novelty.  Tliere 
is  power  to  attract  in  what  is  new,  out  of  the  com- 
mon course  of  events.  A  new  thought  has  power 
when  it  first  steals  out  of  darkness,  and  stands  visibly 


284  THOUGHTS   FOR   THE   CHRISTIAJST   LIFE. 

before  the  mind.  There  is  power  in  a  new  presenta- 
tion of  truth,  in  its  gushings  np  from  its  hidden  foun- 
tain— power  in  a  new  face,  a  new  voice  and  manner. 
The  Athenians  spent  their  time  in  hearing  and  seeing 
something  new.  And  the  world  has  ever  run  after 
novelties.  !N"ow  in  Christ  lifted  up,  there  is  strange- 
ness. Men  had  been  crucified  before,  and  have  been 
since.  The  strangeness  is  not  in  the  crucifixion,  but 
in  the  person  crucified.  It  was  strange  to  see  such 
an  one  in  such  a  place.  Who  was  the  meek  sufferer 
there  ?  It  was  the  Son  of  God.  It  was  the  Prince 
of  Life.  It  was  the  Eternal  "Word  that  had  been  with 
God  and  was  God.  It  was  One  ^'  by  whom  all  things 
had  been  made  ;  "  One  who  "  thought  it  no  robbery 
to  be  equal  with  God ;  "  who  yet  emptied  Himself, 
"  took  on  Himself  the  form  of  a  servant,"  and  hum- 
bled Himself,  becoming  "  obedient  unto  death,  even 
the  death  of  the  cross."  It  was  a  man  only  whom 
the  Jew  saw  there.  It  is  the  Son  of  God  as  the 
Scriptures  reveal  Him.  It  was  the  outcasts  of  the 
race  whom  men  had  been  accustomed  to  crucify.  All 
their  associations  as  connected  with  the  cross  were  of 
the  vile.  And  lo  !  here  is  one  who  stoops  from  the 
height  of  heaven,  one  who  is  called  the  fellow  of  the 
Father,  lifted  up  on  the  cross.  It  would  have  been 
strange  for  a  worthy  man  to  be  there,  and  yet  the 
Son  of  God  is  there  !  Surely  here  is,- a  strange  thing, 
a  thing  to  happen  once  for  an  eternity,  a  thing  apart 


THE    ATTRACTIVE   POWER   OF   CHRIST.  285 

and  alone,  remote  from  all  events  that  could  be  linked 
with  it,  isolated  from  all  associates,  the  one  thing  that 
draws  heaven  and  earth  to  itself,  standing  out  in  the 
history  of  the  universe  in  wondrous  grandeur.  There 
is  in  it  all  the  attraction  of  a  strange  thing.  We  can- 
not become  accustomed  to  it.  When  we  pause,  when 
the  full,  overj)owering  grandeur  of  the  event  comes 
upon  us — Heaven's  King  crucified — we  half  scep- 
tically inqufre,  can  it  have  been  ?  The  language  in 
which  the  event  is  set  forth  may  seem  old,  but  the 
thing  itself  must  ever  seem  new  and  strange,  and  its 
strangeness  will  not  depart  as  we  contemplate  it  from 
the  summits  of  a  future  glory. 

There  is  in  Christ  on  the  cross  the  attractive  power 
of  self-denial  and  self-sacrifice .  These  are  always  in- 
teresting. We  are  attracted  by  them  even  if  they 
do  not  win  us  to  their  imitation.  It  is  these  that  con- 
stitute the  most  precious  legacies  of  the  past ; — these 
that  form  the  most  marked  pages  of  its  history.  We 
cannot  read  of  self-sacrifice  and  self-denial  without 
admiration.  The  men  that  have  practised  them,  are 
the  men  whose  memories  the  world  will  not  let  die. 
Others  may  have  been  greater  than  these  ;  they  may 
have  filled  a  nation's  eye,  and  bowed  millions  in  hom- 
age, but  if  they  have  lived  for  self,  worked  for  self, 
suff'ered  for  self,  regardless  of  others,  then  others,  how- 
ever much  they  may  have  been  astonished  at  their 
deeds,  will  not  permanently  respect  them.    It  is  those 


286  THOUGHTS   FOR  THE   CHRISTIAN   LITE. 

who  have  denied  self,  that  have  won  the  lasting  re- 
spect of  men ;  that  have  redeemed  history  ;  that  have 
made  the  past  attractive  to  the  good ;  that  have  ele- 
vated and  ennobled  the  race.  In  times  of  difficulty 
and  danger  when  the  hearts  of  men  fail  them  for  fear, 
it  is  these  that  draw  the  hearts  of  men  to  themselves. 
The  safe  and  wholesome  instincts  of  the  people  draw 
them.  Select  the  man  who  has  sacrificed  most  for 
his  country's  welfare,  who  in  her  greatest  exigency 
has  given  np  kindred,  home,  ease,  wealth,  life,  all,  to 
save  her  from  dishonor  or  enslavement ; — select  one 
who  has  given  his  life  for  those  he  loves,  and  to  him 
the  thoughts  of  many  hearts  go  in  admiration  and 
sweet  affection.  Select  one — and  many  even  in  our 
own  day  might  be  found — who  has  left  his  native 
land,  and  on  some  mission  of  love  has  expatriated 
himself,  and  consecrated  himself  to  a  life  of  toil  and 
sacrifice  among  brutal  men  to  draw  them  to  Christ, 
and  you  have  the  man  who  has  power  over  his  fellows. 
Thus  there  is  an  attractive  power  in  self-sacrifice 
and  self-denial  wherever  they  are  seen.  And  if  they 
prove  alluring  when  seen  in  their  lower  forms,  shall 
they  fail  to  be  so  when  witnessed  in  their  highest 
manifestations?  Shall  other  men  win  us  to  their 
study  ?  Shall  we  dwell  admiringly  around  the  scene 
where  a  Spartan  band  fell  at  Thermopylae,  and  shall 
we  not  linger  wonderingly  around  the  cross  ?  Who 
has  sacrificed  so  much  as  Jesus  ?    Who  was  raised  so 


THE   ATTRACTIVE    POWEK   OF   CIIEIST.  287 

high,  and  who  descended  so  low  ?  Who  has  put  such 
a  veil  over  his  glory,  who  has  laid  aside  such  a  power, 
who  has  left  such  a  seat  and  such  a  crown  ?  Who 
but  He  could  have  denied  Himself  and  sacrificed 
so  much  ?  And  it  is  not  till  the  abnegation  of  self 
shall  have  ceased  to  draw  men  to  contemplate  it,  that 
Jesus  lifted  up  shall  cease  to  draw  men  unto  Himself. 

There  is  in  Jesus  on  the  cross  the  attractive  power 
of  comjyassion  and  mercy.  Self-denial  and  self-sacri- 
fice may  come  from  the  judgment  and  the  conscience. 
Men  whose  hearts  are  stiffened  by  a  stern  will  like 
the  cordage  of  ships  at  the  approaching  tempest,  to 
endure  litVs  storms  and  conflicts,  may  exercise  them ; 
and  yet  these  men  all  unused  to  the  melting  mood, 
men  living  as  it  were  far  above  the  mass  of  us,  glitter- 
ing brightly  but  coldly  on  the  highest  peaks  of  our 
humanity,  may  not  win  our  sympathies,  however  much 
they  may  our  respect  and  reverence. 

Self-denial  and  self-sacrifice  are  attractive  always, 
even  when  a  rigid  sense  of  duty  has  begotten  them, 
when  unaccompanied  by  the  graces  of  compassion  and 
sweet  pity,  and  all  kind  and  gentle  thoughts  and 
emotions  :  but  let  them  come  to  us  not  simply  envi- 
roned and  borne  on  by  a  strong  will  and  an  unwaver- 
ing conscience,  but  by  a  heart  soft  and  gentle  as  the 
heart  of  woman — a  man's  self-sacrifice  and  self-denial 
set  in  a  woman's  gentleness  and  mercy — and  then 
they  win  all  our  nature.     They  make  breach  upon 


288  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

breach   in   the  barriers  of  coldness  and  worldliness 
that  surround  us,  and  like  billows  they  go  over  us. 

l^ow  when  we  look  at  Jesus  on  the  cross,  we  see 
none  of  the  strong  bracing  of  the  heart  and  will  which 
prompted  the  indomitable  Koman  to  thrust  his  hand 
into  burning  flames  to  convince  the  tyrant  of  the  im- 
potency  of  his  tortures  upon  such  an  one  ; — nor  of  the 
other  Roman,  Brutus,  when,  quenching  all  the  father 
in  his  heart,  he  sat,  the  judge  alone,  and  condemned 
to  death  the  sons  that  broke  his  country's  law ; — none 
of  these,  and  that  there  were  none  of  th§se,  consti- 
tutes much  of  the  attractiveness  of  the  Saviour  there. 
There  was  the  stern  voice  of  duty  indeed  summoning 
Him  to  Calvary ;  there  was  a  girding  up  of  the  man 
to  meet  the  agonies  ;  but  oh  !  the  heart  of  compassion 
in  all  its  melting  tenderness  was  there  too.  He  might 
have  been  scarcely  above  man  had  the  sterner  ele- 
ments of  His  nature  alone  been  active  :  but  when  I 
see  the  heart  of  Jesus  kept  soft  and  tender  there, 
seeking  sympathy  there,  lifting  itself  mournfully  and 
wailingly  to  a  Father  whose  face  w^as  hid  from  Him, 
a  heart  full  of  filial  tenderness,  and  that,  forgetting 
self,  was  solicitous  to  provide  for  a  loving  and  stricken 
mother ;  a  heart  that  could  pray  Heaven  for  forgiveness 
for  His  executioners ; — when  I  see  this,  I  cry  with  Rous- 
seau, "  If  Socrates  died  like  a  philosopher,  Jesus  died 
like  a  God."  The  gentleness  and  compassion  of  Jesus 
draw  if  possible  even  more  than  His  self-sacrifice. 


THE   ATTRACTIVE   POWER   OF    CHRIST.  289 

In  Jesiis  on  the  cross  there  is  the  attractive  power 
of  Jiojpe : — hope  of  pardon,  hope  of  help,  hope  of  vic- 
tory, hope  of  heaven,  all  the  hope  that  man  needs. 
Other  men  may  regard  Jesus  crucified  as  they  will, 
they  may  look  at  the  cross  as  the  crowning  glory  of 
a  wondrous  life,  look  on  it  as  a  blessed  martyrdom, 
and  look  upon  Jesus  there  as  teaching  us  how  to  die, 
as  He  had  before  taught  us  how  to  live.  We  accept 
all  this,  but  this  view  alone  fills  not  out  the  compre- 
hensiveness of  our  faith.  Our  faith  expects  to  take 
in  a  higher  view  than  them  all.  Jesus  lifted  up,  lays 
the  basis  of  our  hope  which  sin  had  depressed  seem- 
ingly forever.  When  we  begin  to  hope  for  all  that 
we  need  as  sinners,  we  come  to  Jesus  on  the  cross. 

In  obedience  to  the  cruel  taunt,  '•'  If  thou  be  the 
Christ,  come  down  from  the  cross," — let  us  see  Him 
come,  and  the  darkness  that  draped  the  heavens  at 
that  hour,  would  have  been  typical  of  that  still  deeper 
darkness  that  would  have  settled  on  our  prospects 
forever.  They  may  cry,  "  Come  down,"  but  methinks 
the  myriads  of  redeemed  souls  that  would  have  been 
lost  had  He  done  so,  rose  before  Him  and  cried,  No. 
A  universe  paused,  silence  reigned  in  heaven,  no 
music  was  in  the  spheres,  every  harp  was  stilled, 
every  voice  hushed  ;  but  amid  all  the  sympathy  that 
was  felt  by  all  the  holy,  not  one  would  have  bidden 
Him  descend.  Then,  at  that  hour  was  the  judgment, 
or  as  it  might  be  rendered,  the  crisis  of  this  world. 
13 


290  THOUGHTS   FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

Despair  and  hope  were  in  the  balance.  The  scales 
trembled  for  a  moment.  Jesus  cried,  "  It  is  finished," 
and  henceforth  hope  was  victor. 

Jesus  lifted  up  is  the  hope  of  a  dying  world.  Ko 
hope  is  garnered  elsewhere.  If  our  faces  are  not  to- 
day toward  the  blackness  of  darkness, — if  a  fearful 
and  eternal  journey  into  it  is  not  appointed  to  us  all, 
it  is  because  Jesus  was  lifted  up.  Let  others  be  timid 
if  they  will,  let  them  nicely  select  and  weigh  their 
words,  lest  they  should  magnify  the  glories  of  Christ 
crucified  too  much.  We  shall  most  surely  accord  with 
the  Scriptures  when  we  give  the  largest  scope  to  our 
thoughts,  and  the  amplest  fullness  to  our  words  in 
setting  forth  these  glories. 

Jesus  in  the  manger,  in  the  temple,  by  the  grave 
of  Lazarus,  in  all  His  beautiful  teachings  and  His 
mighty  works  allures  us : — but  when  we  feel  the 
power  of  our  sins,  when  we  look  bodingly  to  death 
and  its  darkness,  and  to  judgment  and  its  terrors,  it 
is  Jesus  on  the  cross  that  attracts  us.  It  is  the  cross 
that  concentrates  within  itself  all  the  elements  of 
power  that  can  draw  a  ruined  race. 


XXVIL 

THE    DEFENDERS    OF    THE    CHRISTIAN    MORE    THAN    HIS 
ASSAILANTS. 

Fear  not.,  for  they  that  he  with  us  are  more  than  they  that  he 


THE  presence  and  power  of  a  good  man  for  na- 
tional defence,  is  strongly  illustrated  in  the 
case  of  Elislia.  Iidieriting  the  spirit  of  his  stern  old 
Master,  like  him  he  was  a  bulwark  of  his  native  land. 
When  the  king  of  Syria  warred  on  a  certain  occasion, 
as  he  was  wont,  with  Israel,  and  took  deep  and  subtle 
counsels  to  come  upon  her  unawares,  and  surprise  and 
overthrow  her  armies,  he  found  himself  foiled  in  his 
attempts  by  the  evident  communication  of  his  designs 
to  his  opponents,  and  their  consequent  preparation  to 
meet  him.  Suspecting  treachery  in  his  own  cabinet, 
he  challenges  the  ti-aitor  to  reveal  himself,  as  though 
his  mere  challenge  would  draw  the  secret  from  his 
bosom.  One  of  his  councillors  who  knew  more  of 
Israel  and  her  notable  men  than  the  rest,  interposes 
his  explanation  of  the  methods  by  which  the  enemy 
became  possessed  of  their  cabinet  secrets.     There  was 


292  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

a  man  in  Israel  of  keen  vision  and  sharp  hearing. 
He  had  an  odd  and  mysterious  way  of  seeing  and 
knowing  all  that  was  whispered  even  in  the  king's 
bed-chamber.  Some  bird,  some  com'ser  of  the  air 
bore  it  to  him,  and  thus  what  was  done  in  the  most 
secret  places  in  the  metropolis  of  Syria  was  revealed 
at  once  and  afar  off  in  Israel.  This  dangerous  man 
must  be  found  and  silenced.  His  retreat  is  discov- 
ered. Despotism  always  has  its  own  coarse  instru- 
ments, craft  or  force,  to  accomplish  its  designs. 
Chariots  and  horsemen — a  host — are  sent  to  Dothan. 
Tliey  choose  the  night,  as  if  that  keen  eye  that  stole 
the  secrets  of  the  council-chamber  could  not  also  see 
the  movements  of  armies  amid  the  densest  shades. 
They  reach  and  encompass  the  city.  The  youthful 
servant  of  the  Prophet  rises  early  in  the  morning  and 
goes  forth  ;  seeing  the  dread  arraj,  he  hurries  back 
trembling  to  his  master  to  announce  to  him  its  pres- 
ence. The  intelligence  ruffles  not  the  heart, — stirs 
not  a  muscle  of  that  calm  and  serene  man.  He  is 
in  communication  with  the  fountain  of  all  true  repose. 
Til  ere  were  many  to  attack,  but  more  for  defence. 
He  wishes  to  convey  somewhat  of  his  own  compo- 
sure to  his  servant.  He  tells  him  to  "  Fear  not,  for 
they  that  be  with  us  are  more  than  they  that  be  with 
them." 

But  not  to  leave  it  all  to  his  simple  word,  he  prays 
that  his  eyes  may  be  opened  that  he  may  see  ;  and 


STRENGTH    OF   THE    CHRISTIAN'S    DEFENDERS.      293 

behold  !  the  mountain  was  full  of  horses  and  chariots 
of  fire  round  about  Elisha.  Horses  and  chariots  en- 
compassed the  city  to  attack — horses  and  chariots 
more  numeroi^s  filled  the  upper  air  to  defend.  The 
opening  of  the  young  man's  eyes  did  not  bring  them 
there — did  not  create  them.  They  were  there  before 
— invisible.  I^ow  they  are  visible.  The  methods, 
the  machinery,  so  to  speak,  by  which  these  unseen 
defenders  manifested  themselves  to  him  had  possibly 
peculiar  adaptations  to  his  case,  for  allaying  his  fears, 
but  the  defenders  were  really  there.  He  was  not 
deceived.  These  were  not  figments  of  his  own  fancy. 
The  real,  spiritual  guardians  w^cre  there  encompassing 
the  Prophet,  equipped,  ready  to  ward  off  danger.  If 
it  were  a  vision,  it  was  a  vision  representing  a  reality. 
The  record  has  no  meaning,  the  vision  was  a  mere 
deception,  unless  it  was  true  that  their  protectors  were 
actually  more  than  their  assailants. 

This  historical  event  has  interest  for  us  as  a  simple 
bald  fiict.  It  is  delightful  to  know  that  one  man  in 
trying  times  had  such  a  company  to  be  with  and 
guard  him  ;  but  this,  like  most  events  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, has  its  chief  interest  for  us  in  the  fact  that  it  is 
illustrative  of  a  general  principle.  As  an  isolated 
case,  we  might  read  it,  but  regarded  as  a  precedent, 
as  something  which  is  true  of  others,  of  us,  as  well 
as  of  the  old  Prophet,  it  will  be  read  with  new  and 
increasing  delight. 


294  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE.       ^ 

We  too  are  weak,  we  are  subject  to  attack,  we  are 
in  peril.  Are  these  defenders  for  us,  do  they  encom- 
pass us  in  thick  phalanx,  or  are  we  to  make  our  way 
in  life,  througli  its  perils  and  difficulties,  apart  and 
alone  ?  Are  tliey  that  are  with  us,  more  than  they 
that  are  with  our  foes  ?  As  a  record  of  the  olden 
time,  as  a  part  of  the  inspired  word,  this  passage  of 
Scripture  has  its  chief  significance  for  us,  that  we, 
under  the  appropriate  conditions, — with  enemies  to 
meet,  with  passions  to  subdne,  with  souls  stained  by 
sin  to  purify,  with  heaven  and  immortal  glory  to  win, 
— can  adopt  the  same  language,  and  say,  ''  They  that 
are  with  us  are  more  than  they  that  are  with  them.'^ 

Who  may  truthfully  and  properly  assert  this? 
Those  who  now  have  in  a  degree  the  spirit  of  Elisha 
— those  who  have  passed  over  from  a  position  of  hos- 
tility or  indifference  to  God,  to  one  of  friendship  with 
Him,  who  are  now  by  simple  faith  in  Jesus  adopted 
into  His  family.  If  we  now  are  on  the  right  side  in 
the  great  moral  conflict  which  is  going  on  here, — ^if 
our  thoughts,  our  feelings,  our  sympathies  run  in  right 
channels ;  and  if  our  efforts  follow  our  feelings,  and 
we  are  striving  in  our  positions,  conspicuous,  or  ob- 
scure, with  our  faculties  and  means  of  influence,  great 
or  small ;  if  in  the  shop,  on  the  farm,  in  the  counting- 
room,  in  the  pulpit,  in  domestic  retirement,  we  are 
striving  to  bring  the  world  into  allegiance  to  God 
and  His  Son  ;  then  may  we  take  up  the  language  of 


the  Prophet  and  say,  "  They  that  be  with  us  are  more 
than  they  that  be  with  them."  We  may  break  over 
all  wide  and  narrow  limits  of  sect,  and  standing  on  the 
broad  platform  of  a  common  Christianity,  we  may  in- 
close in  our  cincture  of  a  glorious  fellowship  all  that 
love  Christ ;  and  they  and  we  together,  in  view  of 
common  foes  and  conflicts  and  interests,  may  say  in 
company,  "  They  that  be  with  us  are  more  than  they 
that  be  with  them." 

"Who  are  the  more  that  are  with  us  ?  God  is  with 
us.  Christ  is  with  us.  The  Holy  Spirit  is  with  us. 
It  would  be  enough  if  these  alone  were  with  us  to 
encompass  our  path,  to  serve  as  our  Sun  and  our 
Shield.  We  can  go  nowhere  where  they  will  not 
encircle  us,  where  the  palisadoes  of  their  strength 
will  not  rise  about  us.  But  these,  all-sufiicient  as 
they  are,  constitute  after  all  a  unit — a  sublime, 
awful,  blessed  one^  but  one  still.  These  alone  do 
not  constitute  the  move  that  are  with  us.  With  them 
is  the  more  in  point  of  all-pervading  and  all-protect- 
ing powder :  but  the  language  seems  to  imply  that 
more  in  number  are  wdth  us.  And  to  have  these, 
we  must  descend  to  subordinate  beings,  the  allegiant, 
loving  subjects  of  God. 

These  all  are  with  us,  and  they  are  vastly  more 
numerous  than  the  disloyal.  They  are  all  with  us 
and  for  tis — angel  and  archangel — cherubim  and 
seraphim — the  allegiant  in  heaven  and  the  allegiant 


296  THOUGHTS   FOE  THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

on  earth.  It  gives  us  a  striking  view  of  the  almost 
crowded  fullness  of  the  spiritual  worlds  when  we  re- 
member that  it  conld  spare  such  a  host  for  the  pro- 
tection of  Elisha  alone.  All  that  loyal  host  is  with 
us  when  we  are  with  them :  with  us,  not  to  do  our 
work,  not  to  iight  our  battles,  not  to  step  in  and 
smooth  over  all  the  rough  places  of  our  pilgrimage, 
not  to  render  the  attainment  of  heaven  so  easy  as  to 
make  us  feel  that  we  have  but  to  glide  into  it.  N'o, 
they  are  not  with  us  to  lighten  all  our  burdens,  but 
with  us  to  do  for  us  what  we  need,  with  us  to  make 
us  drastic  and  noble  men,  fit  associates  for  themselves 
in  future  exploits  and  in  their  eternal  career.  When 
one  goes  out  of  his  own  cribbed  and  cabined  person- 
ality, his  little,  lowly  self,  and  identifies  himself  with 
the  great  interests  of  the  universe,  the  great  brother- 
hood of  the  good  ;  in  breaking  away  from  his  selfish 
love  he  gains  the  love  of  all.  The  universe  flows  into 
him  when  Adjoins  it.  The  universal  brotherhood  come 
to  him  when  he  goes  out  to  them.  He  gives  his  poor 
heart,  and  he  gets  in  exchange  their  richly  endowed 
hearts.  He  gives  little  and  gains  much.  He  casts 
in  a  single  seed,  and  he  reaps  a  rich  harvest.  He 
becomes  united  to  the  great  family  of  God  in  Heaven 
and  on  the  earth, — a  family  where  each,  even  the 
weakest,  is  dear  to  all ; — a  family  none  too  large  for 
the  holy  sympathies  to  circle  round  and  flow  through. 
All  are  with  each,  and  that  too,  in  the  measure  that 


297 


eacli  is  with  all.  The  language  of  that  family  is, 
^'  All  mine  is  thine,  and  all  thine  is  mine."  Let  God 
be  our  Father,  and  He  and  all  His  children,  wherever 
they  are,  are  with  us.  "  More  are  they  that  be  with 
us  than  they  that  be  with  them." 

The  reasons  why  so  many  are  with  us  if  we  are 
loyal  here  upon  the  earth  in  our  insignificance  and 
sinfulness,  are  doubtless  many.  In  a  well-ordered 
family  or  kingdom,  all  must  be  with  each.  Its  large- 
ness does  not  check  the  flow  of  kindly  feeling  and 
interest,  but  gives  them  freer  scope  by  giving  them 
more  objects  to  embrace.  But  there  are  sjoecial  rea- 
sons why  so  many  of  the  allegiant  subjects  of  God 
should  be  with  us  here  upon  the  earth. 

Piety  here  is  in  its  infancy.  AYe  would  enter  upon 
no  field  of  conjecture  here.  We  would  not  assert  that 
this  is  the  theatre  where  spirits  are  bora  and  nurtured 
to  fill  up  the  ranks  of  the  heavenly  host,  rent  and  de- 
cimated by  the  first  great  rebellion.  We  need  no 
such  conjecture.  But  that  tliis  is  a  great  nursery  of 
piety,  none  can  doubt.  Souls  are  here  born  again^ 
born  into  the  kingdom  of  God,  out  of  the  kingdom 
of  Satan  ; — enter  into  an  experience  of  good,  often 
an  experience  of  evil.  They  are  born  into  the  Di- 
vine kingdom,  often,  amid  throes  and  agonies.  Piety 
here  is  born  like  children  on  the  ocean,  amid  storms 
and  tempests.  It  heaves  its  first  breath  amid  the 
sighing  of  the  billows.  It  needs  like  all  infancy 
13* 


298  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE   CHEISTIAN    LIFE. 

peculiar  guardianship  and  nurture.  It  needs  to  be 
watched  and  cared  for,  lest  its  feeble  life  should 
flicker  and  go  out.  And  it  is.  The  elder  and 
stronger  spirits  of  the  universe  come  to  rock  the 
cradle  of  our  infancy — to  support  us  while  we  are 
weak,  and  nurture  us  into  a  stronger  life. 

In  a  loving  and  true  family,  the  birth  of  a  child 
is  a  signal  for  general  joy.  It  finds  warm  and  loving 
hearts  to  welcome  it  when  it  first  lands  upon  this 
bleak,  cold  world.  It  draws  out  new  afl[ections,  gives 
a  consciousness  to  many  of  new  spiritual  wealth.  The 
little  one  almost  stops  the  currents  of  business,  lifts 
the  domestic  thoughts  out  of  old  ruts,  draws  as  to  a 
common  centre  all  the  kindly  regards  of  the  house- 
hold ;  it  is  the  one  object  of  thought  and  interest,  till 
it  gets  a  little  used  to  its  new  home  and  life.  And 
in  the  higher  family  of  God,  when  one  is  born  into 
it,  especially  out  of  earth  and  out  of  sin,  shall  there 
not  be  a  similar  rush  of  thought  and  sympathy,  a 
similar  preparation  of  feeling  for  its  reception  in  its 
new  home  ?  Shall  it  not  summon  those  who  have 
learned  to  walk  in  the  ways  of  the  Lord,  to  teach  it 
to  tread  the  same  path  ?  The  law  of  analogy  pre- 
pares us  for  the  reception  and  belief  of  those  passages 
of  Scripture  which  speak  of  the  interest  of  other  and 
older  citizens  of  the  commonwealth  of  Israel  in  the 
entrance  of  a  new  and  infant  member  Vv'ithin  its  do- 
main.   If  his  change  of  moral  position  brings  enemies, 


STRENGTH    OF    THE    CHRISTIAN'S    DEFENDERS.       299 

SO  does  it  friends,  and  the  veriest  infant  in  the  family 
of  God  may  say,  "  More  are  they  that  be  with  me 
than  they  that  l)e  with  them." 

Bnt  not  only  is  piety  in  its  infancy  here,  it  is 
peculiarly  subject  to  attack,  and  peculiarly  needs 
defence.  All  life  in  this  world  has  to  keep  up  a 
wavering  and  often  doubtful  battle  with,  death,  and 
all  but  spiritual  life  is  at  length  worsted  in  the  con- 
flict. This  would  yield  also,  but  for  the  perpetual 
strengthening  and  protection  which  it  receives  from 
the  stronger  spiritual  life  of  the  more  mature  and 
experienced.  Every  Christian  is  a  citizen  of  the  king- 
dom of  God.  The  person  of  a  citizen  is  ever  sacred. 
He  lives  and  moves  every  hour  encompassed  by  all 
the  majesty  and  power  of  the  state.  His  country's 
laws  guard  him — its  armies  keep  sentry  over  him. 
Let  the  humblest  citizen  of  a  government  be  attacked, 
and  at  once  he  becomes  the  centre  of  its  thoughts. 
Tliere  flow  to  him  hearts  that  never  before  knew  him. 
All  the  state's  power,  its  fleets,  its  armies  are  enlisted 
to  defend  him,  for  he  becomes  the  representative  of 
its  dignity.  So  is  it  in  the  Divine  government.  It 
defends  its  citizens  at  any  cost.  The  w^eakcst  may 
command  all  its  powers  of  defence :  he  becomes  the 
representative  of  its  dignity. 

And  where  the  subjects  of  the  Divine  government 
are  most  exposed  and  most  need  defence,  tliere  will  be 
detached  its  most  nmnerous  and  its  strongest  defend- 


300  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

ers.  Earth  is  such  a  place.  The  friends  of  God  are 
here  most  exposed,  and  where  most  are  wanted,  there 
most  come.  It  is  becanse  so  many  are  against  us  here 
if  we  be  good,  that  so  many  come  to  be  with  ns  in 
actual  jpresence^  as  well  as  sympathy.  God  acts  on 
the  principle  of  economy,  and  gives  earth  so  many 
defenders  becanse  it  is  snch  an  exposed  ontpost  in 
His  dominions.  "  More  are  they  that  be  with  ns 
than  they  that  be  with  them." 

I  have  already  said  that  the  spiritual  guardians 
were  round  about  Elisha  and  his  servant,  before  the 
eyes  of  the  latter  were  opened  to  see  them.  He  sim- 
ply became  cognizant  of  them  through  the  quickening 
of  his  vision.  The  fact  that  they  were  there,  was  his 
safety  J — the  sight  of  them  was  his  comfort^  and  dissi- 
pated his  fears.  And  so  the  fact  that  so  many  are 
with  and  for  us,  if  we  are  on  the  side  of  Christ,  is  our 
safety.  They  are  about  us,  though  we  realize  it  not. 
When  told  so,  we  sometimes  wdsh  that  we  could  have 
our  eyes  anointed,  that  w^e  could  see  them,  that  they 
might  stand  out  in  visible  and  tangible  array  before 
us  as  they  did  before  him.  "We  long  for  sight  here 
often  as  elsewhere.  But  to  sigh  for  a  sight  of  all  our 
spiritual  guardians,  is  to  forget  the  very  object  of  the 
Gospel.  It  comes  to  r^-create  and  strengthen  our  faith 
in  things  and  persons  unseen  and  eternal ;  it  comes  to 
re-bridge  the  great  gulf  which  we  have  fixed  between 
the  seen  and  temporal,  and  the  unseen  and  eternal, 


STRENGTH    OF   THE    CHRISTIAN'S    DEFENDERS.       301 

and  to  draw  us  in  thought  and  affection  over  tlie 
bridged  chasm.  It  comes  to  make  real  and  substan- 
tial to  us  the  invisible ;  but  to  make  the  invisible 
visible,  would  be  to  subvert  the  very  design  of  the 
Gospel.  It  seeks  to  make  us  walk  bj  faith,  not  by 
sight, — to  live  for,  fight  for,  work  and  suffer  and  die 
for  invisible  interests  and  beings  ;  and  to  reveal  them 
(if  that  were  possible)  would  be  to  subvert  its  objects. 
Our  invisible  helpers  must  remain  invisible.  They 
are  here.  They  are  real.  We  need  but  a  spiritual 
vision,  an  all-conquering  faith  to  see  them,  to  realize 
their  presence,  to  banish  our  fears,  to  make  us  ever 
calm  and  serene.  The  telescope  plants  no  new  stars 
in  the  upper  firmament.  It  only  rolls  away  the  dark- 
ness and  makes  them  stand  confessed.  So  faith  cre- 
ates nothing,  brings  from  the  sweet  heavens  no  new 
guardians ;  but  it  does  reveal  those  that  are  here,  it 
does  banish  our  fears  by  showing  us  through  what 
environing  hosts  of  friends  we  may  walk  in  our  spirit- 
ual novitiate,  and  reach  their  and  our  home.  Faith 
says  in  all  the  way,  "  Fear  not,  for  they  that  be  with 
us  are  more  than  they  that  be  with  them." 

The  good,  whether  they  be  feebly  good  or  strongly 
good,  whether  their  hearts  be  fixed  with  an  iron 
rigidity  in  goodness,  or  whether  they  tremble  toward 
it  like  the  jostled  needle  seeking  its  centre  of  rest, — 
are  yet  with  the  more  numerous  party.  And  in 
seeking  to  advance  our  holy  religion,  to  bring  men 


302  THOUGHTS   FOE   THE   CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

alienated  or  indifferent  more  heartily  to  embrace  it, 
we  want  the  influence  of  this  simple  fact. 

Every  great  and  far-reaching  interest  must  have 
its  lower  as  well  as  its  higher  order  of  motives  and 
impulses.  Man  is  a  many-sided  being.  He  has  his 
higher  and  lower  principles  of  action,  his  higher  and 
lower  affections  and  tendencies.  And  a  cause  wliich 
should  have  only  one  or  two  great  towering  incite- 
ments rising  like  lofty  mountains  above  the  level 
of  common  life,  and  should  be  ever  ringing  its  mo- 
notonous changes  on  these,  would  fail  to  reach  the 
7nass  of  men.  Some  lofty  natures  might  feel  and 
yield  to  their  power  ;  many  might  feel  them  in  their 
better  moods ;  but  they  would  not  reach  all  men  in 
all  moods.  Now  our  religion  is  a  great,  a  universal 
interest.  It  is  for  men — all  men — in  all  positions — in 
all  stages  of  intellectual  enlargement  and  social  refine- 
ment. It  proposes  to  subdue  men  to  itself,  to  raise 
them  to  the  loftiest  heights  of  spiritual  power.  To 
reach  men  and  raise  men,  it  must  come  down  to  them. 
It  must  stoop  to  conquer.  If  it  would  find  them  and 
save  them,  it  must  seek  them  on  the  low  levels  which 
they  occupy.  And  this  religion  is  so  rich  in  resour- 
ces, so  crowded  with  motives,  meets  men  at  so  many 
points,  knocks  and  is  willing  to  enter  at  so  many 
doors,  that  it  rarely  finds  one  sunk  so  low  that  it  can- 
not discern  something  within  the  broad  circuit  of  its 
appeals  that  will  reach  and  engage  him.     And  it  is 


STRENGTH    OF   THE   CHRISTIANAS    DEFENDERS.        303 

proper  to  appeal  to  all  the  innocent  tendencies  of 
man's  nature, — to  slip  in  at  a  lower  portal  if  you  find 
the  higher  closed. 

Now  there  is  with  all  men  a  desire  to  be  with  the 
more  numerous  party.  We  are  gregarious,  and  we 
like  to  join  the  biggest  flock.  Let  it  be  justly  antici- 
pated, that  in  a  given  political  canvass,  a  certain 
party  is  to  win  the  day,  and  that  simple  anticipation 
will  alone  affect  enough  and  swing  them  over  to  se- 
cure its  triumph.  JSTone  like  to  be  alone,  and  few 
like  to  be  in  a  small  and  waning  minority.  There  is 
no  sin  in  wishing  to  be  with  the  multitude,  if  it  be 
not  to  do  evil  with  them.  It  is  natural  to  love  to  go 
with  the  majority.  Let  a  stranger  be  selecting  his 
place  of  worship,  and  if  conscience  do  not  dictate 
otherwise,  he  will  join  the  largest  congregation,  and 
that  not  wholly  from  interested  motives.  He  is  yield- 
ing to  a  dictate  of  his  nature. .  ]!!^ow  in  joining  the 
Lord's  side,  in  deserting  the  party  of  sin  and  Satan, 
and  coming  over  upon  the  side  of  God  and  Hjs  dear 
Son,  we  are  deserting  a  small  and  waning  minority, 
and  are  uniting  ourselves  with  the  large  and  ever- 
swelling  majority.  "  More  are  they  that  be  with  us 
than  they  that  be  with  them."  In  leaving  sin  and 
entering  the  service  of  Christ,  we  are  not  condemn- 
ing ourselves  to  isolation  and  loneliness.  We  are  not 
allying  ourselves  with  a  few  sad  and  lonely  beings 
who  will  afford  us  no  genial  and  sunny  companion- 


304  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE   CIIRTSTIAI^    LIFE. 

ship ;  we  are  not  leaving  scenes  where  ranks  are 
thick,  the  voices  many,  and  entering  scenes  where 
all  is  desert  and  solitary,  where  the  owl  whoops,  and 
the  satyr  dances,  and  the  bittern  stalks.  No!  we 
are  coming  over  where  the  ranks  are  more  ser- 
ried, where  the  voices  are  more  glad  and  numerous. 
The  good  are  in  the  majority.  Their  party  is  in 
the  ascendant.  They  have  the  gladness,  the  com- 
panionship, the  joy,  the  ecstasy  on  their  side.  '  They 
may  say,  "  come  with  us  and  we  will  not  only  do 
you  good,  but  we  will  give  you  the  best  society, 
and  the  most  of  it." 

And  if  we  are  Christ's  and  for  Him,  then  the 
"  more  "  are  with  us  just  w^here  we  want  them  most ; 
— not  here  possibly,  where  we  are  strangers  and  pil- 
grims, not  in  this  w^orld,  which  is  but  a  caravansary, 
a  tent  which  we  pitch  in  our  night  of  time,  and  strike 
in  the  morning ; — but  in  our  home,  across  the  river, 
amid  the  unseen  and  eternal : — there  the  majority 
are  on  the  side  of  the  Lord,  and  effectively  with 
all  that  are  with  the  Master.  "  Fear  not  then,  for 
more  are  they  that  be  with  us  than  they  that  be  with 
them." 

If  fear  is  to  have  any  influence  in  religious  con- 
cerns, (and  who  will  deny  that  it  has  ?) — if  our  fears 
are  to  be  appealed  to  and  stirred,  then  so  much  as  it 
should  affect  our  position,  it  should  legitimately  in- 
duce us  to  take  sides  with  Christ.     Sometimes,  when 


STRENGTH    OF   THE   CHRISTIAN'S   DEFENDERS.      305 

the  stern  dictates  of  conscience  summon  iis  to  leave 
the  service  of  sin,  we  tremble  to  abandon  the  asso- 
ciates of  our  youth  or  manhood  :  our  fears,  our  false 
shame  keep  us  in  the  old  haunts,  the  old  habits,  and 
with  the  old  associates.  But  if  fear  is  to  affect  and 
decide  our  moral  position,  it  should  impel  us  to  take 
the  right  side.  In  a  universe  governed  bj  a  benevo- 
lent and  omnipotent  Being,  fear,  if  it  acts  under  a 
wide  view  of  things,  will  act  to  make  us  take  His 
side,  join  with  His  friends,  for  He  is  the  strongest, — 
they  the  most  numerous. 

This  day,  all  over  the  world,  every  soul,  however 
weak,  however  unknown  and  despised,  however  it 
may  struggle  with  sin,  may  yet  with  an  eye  of  faith 
pierce  the  enveloping  gloom,  pass  out  of  the  imme- 
diate loneliness  and  say,  "  More  are  they  that  be  with 
me  than  they  that  be  with  them."  The  wicked  may 
be  in  lofty  and  rich  dwellings,  may  be  surrounded  by 
the  multitude,  the  objects  of  admiration,  pointed  at 
in  the  streets,  waited  on  at  home,  the  observed  of 
all  observers  ;  and  yet  that  pious  soul,  all  shut  out 
from  the  halls  of  the  great  may  say,  "the  more 
and  the  })eUer  are  with  me."  True  piety  can  never 
be  alone. 

I  have  said  that  every  pious  soul,  however  humble, 
is  with  the  majority,  and  the  majority  with  it.  We 
need  the  influence  of  this  truth  in  all  the  walks  and 
scenes  of  our  religious  life.     Debarred  as  we  may  be 


306  THOrGHTS   FOR   THE   CHRISTIAI^   LIFE. 

from  religious  society — cut  off  as  we  must  be  on  the 
higher  planes  of  the  religious  life  from  much  sym- 
pathy, we  have  need  to  take  the  consolations  of  our 
theme,  and  press  them  close  to  our  hearts.  Lofty  as 
may  be  our  spiritual  aspirations,  scale  as  towering 
heights  as  we  may  in  the  Divine  life,  far  out  of  reach 
of  the  many  who  yet  are  upon  the  earth,  we  may  still 
feel  that  we  are  not  alone ;  the  7nore  even  on  these 
heights  are  still  with  us. 

But  preeminently,  we  need  the  consolations  of  our 
theme  when  we  make  it  our  life-task  to  persuade  others 
to  join  "  the  sacramental  host  of  God's  elect."  You, 
my  Brother,  will  need  them.  You  will  go  out  from 
these  scenes  of  blessed  spiritual  companionship.  You 
know  not  where  your  lot  in  future  life  may  be  cast, 
know  not  how  isolated  from  the  great  centres  of  the 
cross,  of  religion  upon  the  earth,  you  may  be — how 
few  will  gather  around  you  to  stimulate  you  and  hold 
up  your  hands  and  encourage  your  heart.  It  would 
be  strange  if  you  did  not  sometimes  feel  that  you 
were  left  to  bear  up  the  ark  of  God  alone  ;  as  if  you 
were  bereft  of  all  associates  and  helpers.  But,  Brother, 
in  the  darkest  and  most  solitary  hours,  up  among  the 
mountains,  in  the  valleys,  wherever  you  are,  remem- 
ber that  if  you  are  with  God^  and  making  aggressions 
into  the  enemy's  territory,  seeking  to  enlist  new  sol- 
diers for  the  Great  Captain,  you  are  not  alone.    Be 


STEENGTII    OF   THE   CHRISTIANAS   DEFENDERS.      307 

you  -where  you  may,  cut  off  as  mucli  as  possible  from 
the  society  of  the  good  of  earth  ; — yet  even  then,  they 
that  sympathize  with  you,  sending  loving  and  help- 
ing thoughts  after  you,  are  more  than  they  that  be 
against  you. 


XXVIII. 

GOD    OUR    HELPER. 

/  will  lift  up  mine  eyes  unto  the  Jiills^  from  whence  cometh  my 
help.  My  help  cometh  from  the  Lord^  which  made  heaven  and 
earth, — Psalm  cxxi.  1,  2. 

I  SHALL  use  this  passage  as  the  basis  of  some  re- 
marks upon  the  hel]3  we  may  obtain  of  God  in 
working  out  our  destiny. 

God  has  made  us.  He  has  placed  us  here  in  just 
such  a  world  as  we  find.  He  has  surrounded  us  with 
just  such  influences  as  encom23ass  us.  He  has  told 
us  what  to  do — has  marked  out  a  path  to  walk  in — 
an  end  to  reach — a  destiny  to  accomplish.  The  work 
assigned  us  is  not  easy ;  it  is  difficult, — but  not  too 
difficult.  In  it  all,  God  has  promised  us  help,  and 
this  is  what  we  need.  He  does  not  propose  to  do  all 
for  us, — to  take  us  up,  and  carry  us  on  to  our  goal 
and  our  destiny,  in  a  mere  state  of  mental  and  bodily 
passivity.  That  were  unworthy  of  us  and  of  Him ; 
that  were  to  subvert  the  very  purpose  of  our  creation. 
No  intelligent,  free  agent  can  be  thus  dealt  with.  God 
has  given  us  thought,  volition,  general  capacities,  to 


GOD   OUR   HELPER.  309 

be  used  in  working  out  our  destiny,  and  if  the  work 
of  life  ever  seems  too  arduous,  if  the  way  marked  out 
either  in  its  parts  or  as  a  whole  seems  too  difficult. 
He  stands  pledged  to  afford  us  hel]3.  He  neither  de- 
signs that  we  should  reach  the  true  end  of  our  exist- 
ence in  a  state  of  passivity,  as  mere  motionless  crea- 
tures, nor  on  the  other  hand  does  He  design  that  we 
should  reach  it  apart  from  and  independent  of  Him. 
We  must  work,  but  work  in  God,  encompassed  by 
Him,  leaning  on  Him,  looking  up  to  Him,  feeling  in 
the  depths  of  our  soul  that  without  Him  we  can  do 
nothing,  and  that  with  Him  we  can  do  all  things. 
We  must  keep  up  all  through  life  the  proper  balance 
between  our  freedom  and  dependence.  We  must 
feel  that  our  freedom  is  a  sound — a  name, — that  it 
can  be  freedom  only  as  it  acts  in  God,  is  borne  on 
and  up  by  His  omnipresence  and  omnipotence.  We 
must  stir  up  the  energies  that  God  has  made  to  act 
efficiently  only  in  Himself,  we  must  work  and  struggle, 
but  with  the  feeling  that  all  will  be  to  no  purpose 
unless  God  help  us.  Help — that  is  what  we  need, 
and  what  God  will  give. 

This  help  will  be  such  and  just  such  as  we  need 
here  and  noio^  with  our  weakness  and  in  our  condi- 
tions, with  our  duties  and  our  conflicts.  We  are  not 
angels,  we  have  not  their  powers,  we  arc  not  in  tlieir 
spheres,  we  have  not  their  duties  or  work.  We  are 
men.    We  have  men's  powers  and  duties  and  conflicts 


310  THOUGHTS    FOB   THE   CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

and  works.  We  are  not  in  heaven,  bnt  on  the  earth, 
in  the  flesh,  snbject  to  its  infirmities  and  dangers. 
God  knoweth  our  frame,  our  position,  just  what  and 
where  we  are,  and  what  we  liave  to  do,  and  He  pro- 
poses to  help  us,  just  as  we  are  and  where  we  are, 
with  our  work  and  our  conflicts.  This  aid  comes  clear 
down  to  ns  and  to  our  condition,  flows  into  our  weak- 
nesses, adapts  itself  to  our  nature  and  circnmstances. 
We  may  be  very  weak — our  sins  may  have  sunk  us 
very  low ;  but  we  cannot  have  sunk  so  low  that  we 
cannot  cast  our  eye  up  to  the  hills  whence  cometh 
our  help.  It  is  help  for  poor  creatures  like  us,  who 
are  blind  and  weak,  whose  vision  has  been  obscured, 
and  whose  powers  have  been  enfeebled  by  sin,  that 
we  need,  and  it  is  such  help  that  God  will  give. 
When  it  is  proposed  to  grant  help,  in  order  to  be 
effectual  it  must  be  help  reaching  clear  down  to  the 
state  and  condition  of  those  to  whom  it  is  proffered. 
It  would  be  a  mockery  to  proffer  the  help  that  angels 
need  to  us.  They  need  help,  for  they  work  out  their 
destiny  in  reliance  upon  Divine  aid,  but  they  do  not 
need  the  same  that  we  do. 

The  helj)  that  God  proffers  is  siifficient  help.  "  My 
help  cometh  from  the  Lord,  which  made  heaven  and 
earth."  He  made  the  earth  with  all  that  it  contains. 
The  globe  with  its  occupants  swings  in  its  orbit  sus- 
tained by  Him.  He  made  the  heavens — those  galaxies 
of  stars  and  suns,  visible  and  invisible.     Thus  the 


COD    OUR   HELPER.  311 

Psalmist  would  base  an  argument  for  tlie  sufficiency 
of  Divine  help  upon  what  God  has  done.  ''  He  has 
made  and  upholds  such  mighty  orbs,  and  surely  / 
may  rely  upon  Him.  He  made  them,  and  He  can 
help  m^."  He  seems  to  love  to  magnify  the  works 
of  God,  because  by  any  addition  which  he  makes  to 
their  greatness,  he  increases  his  ideas  of  the  greatness 
of  the  Being  to  whom  he  looks  up  for  help.  He  does 
not  as  some  do,  look  out  upon  the  earth,  measure  the 
mountains  in  his  scales,  and  scan  the  ocean's  depths ; 
and  then  leaving  earth,  and  soaring  into  the  heavens, 
trace  the  paths  of  the  stars  as  they  sweep  in  their 
circuits,  ply  the  telescope,  and  out  of  the  depths  of 
space  evoke  new  luminaries  that  had  otherwise  re- 
fused to  come,  and  wandering  far  and  wide  in  a 
boundless  universe  at  length  reach  the  awful  con- 
clusion, that  he  is  too  small  a  creature  to  be  noticed 
by  the  Being  who  made  all  this.  His  science  (ill- 
starred)  does  not  wander  so  far  and  wide  to  bring 
him  back  the  message  of  despair.  He  does  not  wish 
to  spy  out  a  grand  universe,  to  be  left  a  waif  and  an 
estray  in  it.  He  does  not  desire  to  magnify  God's 
works  only  to  be  cast  off  as  too  insignificant  to  be 
thought  of  by  God.  He  would  rather  that  God  should 
not  have  made  quite  so  many  worlds,  if  his  cares  be- 
came so  numerous  that  no  thoughts  or  affections  were 
disengaged  for  him.  Tlie  greatness  of  God's  works 
does  not  destroy  in  his  estimation  the  fatherliood  of 


312  THOUGHTS    FOR    THE    CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

God.  Oh,  no  !  It  was  left  for  modern  wise  men  to 
lose  a  sense  of  God's  care  and  aid  amid  tlie  greatness 
of  His  works, — to  infer  from  the  fact  that  God  made 
the  earth  and  the  heavens,  that  He  conld  not  and 
would  not  stoop  to  aid  them.  The  Psalmist,  and  all 
•who  have  his  spirit,  draw  a  different  inference ; — He 
made  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  and  He  can  and  will 
help  me, — this  is  the  blessed  conclusion. 

The  moment  I  make  the  greatness  of  God's  works 
a  reason  to  my  own  sonl  for  my  being  overlooked  and 
unhelped  amid  the  mighty  sum  of  things,  that  mo- 
ment this  greatness  only  becomes  a  burden,  yea,  a 
horror  to  me.  I  dread  it.  It  is  like  piling  mountains 
on  me  to  crush  me.  I  will  never  stand  and  look  up, 
if  the  sight  leaves  me  without  one  to  care  for  and 
help  me.  But  when  I  discard  such  a  godless  science, 
and  seek  out  God's  works,  and  dwell  upon  their  great- 
ness only  to  enhance  the  greatness  of  my  Father  and 
QTiy  Helper,  then  the  universe  becomes  to  me,  not  an 
awful  desolation,  but  a  temple  echoing  the  j)raises  of 
a  loving  God  and  Father.  The  Psalmist  dwelt  upon 
God's  greatness  only  to  look  more  confidingly  to  Him 
for  help.  My  Helper  made  the  heavens,  therefore 
His  help  will  be  all-sufficient.  Science  thus  prose- 
cuted, brings  joy  to  the  soul,  not  a  feeling  of  loneli- 
ness and  orphanage. 

The  help  that  God  gives  is  opportune,  timely. 
"  God  shall  help  us  and  that  right  early."     Help  be- 


GOD    OUR    PIELPEE.  313 

hind  the  time,  when  the  battle  is  over  and  either  lost 
or  won,  when  the  pressure  is  gone  or  has  crushed  us, 
is  hardly  help  at  all.  It  may  be  only  an  aggravation 
to  proffer  it  then.  We  want  help  at  the  exigency 
when  we  peradventure  fail  without  it.  Help  from 
man  does  not  often  come  at  the  right  time.  There  is 
a  great  deal  of  help  for  poor  crushed  souls  even  here 
in  this  world, — the  difficulty  is  that  it  does  not  come 
soon  enough.  But  Divine  help  is  opportune  help,  it 
comes  not  before  nor  after,  but  just  when  it  is  needed. 
You  will  of  course  understand  that  Divine  help 
does  not  come  in  the  way,  nor  do  the  things  that 
human  help  does.  There  is  a  child  in  yonder  dwell- 
ing— the  only  child  of  its  parents.  It  is  bright  and 
beautiful,  the  crowning  gift  of  God  to  them,  the  orna- 
ment of  their  wealth,  the  gladness  of  their  home.  It 
was  precious  at  the  first,  and  every  hour  it  has  wound 
its  silent  way  into  deeper  depths  of  the  soul.  It  falls 
sick  on  a  day,  and  its  voice  is  stilled,  and  its  smile 
gone.  Anxious  fears  begin  to  be  awakened  there. 
Friends — physicians  are  called.  Skill  plies  its  reme- 
dies, but  without  avail.  Strength  decays,  disease 
does  its  work,  the  little  pulse  ceases  to  beat,  the  child 
is  borne  to  its  silent  home.  Human  helpers  would 
have  saved  that  child  to  its  parents.  But  God,  who 
made  the  heavens,  looked  down ;  He  heard  the  child's 
moan,  the  mother's  sighs  and  prayers.  He  saw  and 
heard  all  and  sympathized  in  all.  He  is  also  a  Helper. 
u 


314  THOUGHTS    FOE   THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

Why  did  he  not  help  as  good  men  would  have  helped  ? 
Because  His  thoughts  are  not  our  thoughts,  nor  His 
ways  our  ways,  and  therefore  His  help  is  not  our  help. 
Were  it  not  for  scenes  such  as  these,  the  very  con- 
sciousness of  our  need  of  Divine  help  would  fade  out 
of  the  minds  of  men.  It  is  amid  such  darkness  and 
desolation  that  our  need  of  help  from  God  is  felt  most 
keenly,  and  our  cry  for  it  goes  up  most  strongly. 
God  keeps  Himself  in  the  souls  of  the  race  very  much 
throuo-h  the  sorrows  of  the  race.  Our  sorrows  are 
inlets  through  which  Divine  help  is  sought  and  comes. 
In  the  best  way  and  time  it  comes.  God  does  help 
those  who  desire  it  "  right  early,"  after  His  thought 
— not  after  theirs. 

God's  help  is  constant,  not  fitful,  evanescent,  here 
now  and  anon  gone.  Men  are  impulsive,  changeable, 
and  are  therefore  unreliable.  They  often  purpose 
better  than  they  do.  They  cannot  depend  on  them- 
selves. Their  intentions  may  be  good,  but  their  per- 
formances turn  out  small.  This  is  so  with  the  best 
men.  They  mean  to  help,  but  they  are  not  masters 
either  of  their  moods  or  their  means.  But  God  is 
unchangeable.  He  knows,  and  we  may  know  what 
He  will  be.  He  will  be  as  He  is.  He  is  unchange- 
able, because  He  is  unimprovable,  and  the  help  He 
gives  to-day  He  can  give  to-morrow  if  our  condition 
requires  the  same.  He  is  not  constrained  to  consider 
His  means  of  helping.     That  is  an  element  which 


GOD   OUE    HELPER.  315 

may  always  be  left  out.  He  only  considers  our  need, 
and  His  help  comes  as  constantly  as  the  light  of  the 
sun  by  day.  He  is  never  removed  from  us  nor  we 
from  Him.  We  cannot  pass  out  of  God, — beyond 
the  sphere  of  His  omniscience  and  omnipotence,  and 
therefore  can  never  pass  the  limits  where  His  help 
may  not  swifter  than  thought  reach  us.  When 
stricken  with  pain,  when  overwhelmed  with  grief, 
when  our  life  is  going  out  in  agony,  when  we  have 
passed  clear  beyond  the  region  where  human  help 
avails ;  God  may  be  helping  us.  Help  from  God  is 
not  intermittent — it  comes  not  in  jets — it  is  not  de- 
pendent on  outward  circumstances,  nor  upon  personal 
health — it  is  not  a  varying  quantity,  but  an  unvary- 
ing one.  We  may  go  forth  to  duty,  to  toil  and  strug- 
gle, we  may  go  up  into  our  chambers  and  lie  down 
upon  our  sick  and  dying  beds,  we  may  go  out  upon 
the  untried  scenes  of  eternity,  relying  upon  it  as  surely 
as  we  may  rely  on  the  smi  or  the  tides.  That  help, 
when  we  have  sought  it  in  the  proper  way,  and  with 
the  proper  spirit,  will  no  more  be  wanting  to  us  than 
the  earth  will  fail  us  to  tread  upon — nay,  it  will  be 
operative  w^hen  all  material  things  shall  have  passed 
away. 

This  help  of  God  when  it  comes,  does  not  weaken 
our  projper  self-reliance^  nor  our  general  powers  of 
thought  and  will.  It  rather  increases  the  force  of 
all  our  faculties.      It  strengthens  us.     It   docs   not 


316  THOUGHTS   FOR   THE    CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

dwarf — it  brings  out  into  the  highest  possible  activity 
om*  whole  natures.  lie  is  a  wise,  a  very  wise  man 
who  knows  when  and  how  to  give  help  so  that  it  shall 
not  weaken  the  proper  self-reliance  and  force  of  char- 
acter of  the  recipient.  Human  help,  rightly  adminis- 
tered, may  make  us  stronger,  may  encom*age,  stimu- 
late, press  on  to  duty  or  suffering.  This  is  the  proper 
office  of  help,  to  make  us  more  noble  and  forcible 
creatures,  but  this  is  not  alw^ays,  perhaps  not  generally 
the  actual  result.  A  large  part  of  the  help  which 
men  give,  encourages  slothfulness,  leads  to  inaction, 
to  a  spirit  of  unmanly  dependence,  develops  weak- 
ness, not  force  and  energy  of  character.  Much  help 
is  misdirected  and  misapplied — leads  to  evil,  not  to 
good.  But  God's  help  is  so  directed  and  applied, 
comes  at  such  a  time  and  in  such  a  way,  that  we 
are  made  more  manly  and  noble  by  it,  stronger  and 
more  alert  and  enterprising.  It  comes  not  to  lift  us 
as  a  dead  weight  even  up  to  heaven ;  it  enters  as  a 
silent  current  of  magnetism  to  stimulate  us,  as  a  celes- 
tial breath  to  stir  us  to  will  and  to  do.  It  comes  not 
so  much  to  do  for  us,  as  to  excite  and  aid  us  to  do. 
While  it  is  in  us  in  greatest  force,  we  are  not  attracted 
to  it  to  observe  it ;  it  bears  us  on  under  the  fullest 
activity  of  our  powers  to  God  and  heaven.  It  never 
weakens,  but  always  strengthens  us.  It  develops  in 
us  all  that  is  noble  and  strong,  and  even  daring. 

Having  this  effect,  it  may  be  received  without  any 


GOD  OUR  HELPER.  317 

loss  of  dignity  or  any  right  feelings  of  independence. 
Men  often  like  to  be  above  tbe  need  of  human  help, 
and  they  desire  it  in  part,  perhaps,  because  they  are 
compelled  to  feel  less  manly,  less  free  and  noble  when 
they  receive  it,  or  the  burden  of  obligation  is  oppres- 
sive :  but  help  even  from  men — men  too,  not  related 
to  us  by  blood,  may  come  in  such  a  way  as  to  leave 
all  our  best  feelings  unembarrassed  and  free,  and  our 
manliness  untarnished.  It  may  so  come  and  be  so 
received  as  to  make  us  feel  more  truly  dignified  and 
noble,  by  the  new  consciousness  of  human  worth  it 
brings  with  it,  and  the  new  gratitude  it  excites  in  our 
own  souls.  It  is  only  the  proud  churl  that  will  reject 
human  help  when  it  is  needed  and  is  proffered  in  the 
right  spirit. 

But  help  from  God  is  our  birthright,  so  to  sj^eak. 
We  receive  it  with  less  loss  of  dignity  and  independ- 
ence, if  possible,  than  the  child  does  who  receives 
nourishment  and  care  from  its  mother.  We  receive 
it  with  as  little  loss  of  true  independence  as  the 
mariner  receives  the  wind  that  fills  his  lifted  sails, 
or  the  light  of  the  stars  and  sun  that  guide  him  on 
his  way.  We  live,  move,  and  have  our  being  in  God, 
and  to  be  independent  of  His  help  may  be  the  wish 
of  a  demon,  but  never  the  proper  aspiration  of  a  man. 

There  is  then  help  for  us  in  God — help  for  us  all — 
help  for  us  who  arc  so  weak  and  so  sinful  and  cor- 
rupt,— ^just  such  help  in  God  through  the  great  Medi- 


318  THOUGHTS   FOR  THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

ator  Jesus  as  we  need.  There  is  not  a  poor  burdened 
soul  on  tlie  earth  that  may  not  have  it  through  that 
new  and  living  way  which  has  been  opened  up  in  the 
Gospel. 

But  how  can  we  obtain  it  even  through  Christ  ? 
In  the  same  way  that  the  Psalmist  did.  "  I  will  lift 
up  mine  eyes  unto  tlie  hills,  from  whence  cometh  my 
help."  Up  yonder,  on  those  heavenly  hills,  there,  in 
God  who  made  heaven  and  earth,  is  our  help, — there 
and  not  elsewhere, — not  here  on  the  earth, — in  man 
great  or  small, — not  in  riches  or  position ; — no,  but 
in  God  is  our  help.  We  must  seek  it  there.  Our 
eye,  our  heart  must  be  sent  up  on  a  heavenly  errand 
for  it.  Let  us  know^  where  to  look  for  it,  let  us  seek 
it  in  prayer ; — it  will  come. 

"  Thou  art  my  help  and  my  deliverer ;  make  no 
tarrying,  O  my  God." 


XXIX. 

MYSTERIES    UNVEILED    IN    THE    FUTURE. 

Jems  ansicered  and  said  unto  him,  What  I  do  thou  Tcnowest  not 
now,  hut  thou  shalt  know  hereafter, — John  xiii.  7. 

CHRIST  had  just  performed  a  menial  service  to 
His  Aj)ostles.  He  had  washed  their  feet,  and 
wiped  them  with  the  towel  wherewith  He  had  girded 
Himself.  Coming  to  Peter,  he  is  ready  to  question 
the  propriety  of  such  an  act  done  by  sucli  a  man. 
Peter  regards  it  as  incongruous  with  His  character 
and  position.  Jesus  waiving  all  direct  reply  to  his 
objections,  refers  him  to  the  future.  He  might  not 
know  the  significance  of  this  act  nov/,  but  when  he 
should  com6  more  into  the  meaning  of  Christ's  mis- 
sion— into  the  genius  and  spirit  of  His  kingdom — 
when  he  should  come  to  see  that  it  was  not  one  of 
pride  and  self-exaltation,  but  one  of  service  and  self- 
sacrifice  ; — then  he  would  understand  this  act  of  his 
Master.  It  semed  a  degrading,  almost  meaningless 
act  now — then  it  would  be  crowded  with  import. 
Now,  it  seemed  the  act  of  a  menial — then,  when  the 


320  THOUGHTS   FOR   THE   CIIKISTIAJST    LIFE. 

gloiy  of  that  kingdom  dawned  upon  him — when  all 
human  ideas  of  greatness  were  reversed,  and  when 
those  that  sank  low^est,  rose  highest,  it  would  seem  the 
act  that  befitted  such  a  man.  It  would  be  seen  to  be 
the  purest  religion,  teaching  bj  the  noblest  example. 

The  future  is  painted  to  us  as  the  theatre  whose 
light  shall  shine  upon  the  now  dark  doings  of  Christ. 
And  here  we  have  a  great  truth,  an  all-comprehensive 
principle  presented  for  our  solace  and  comfort.  We 
know  not  the  ways,  the  doings  of  God  now  ;  we  shall 
know  them  hereafter.  He  will  explain  Himself  in 
the  time,  or  in  the  eternity  to  come. 

There  is  in  all  of  us  who  have  ever  been  stirred 
with  thought  at  all — whose  minds  have  ever  been 
started  into  action,  a  desire,  an  almost  delirious  desire 
to  Tcnow.  We  feel  stunted,  cramped  all  around.  The 
forest  closes  in — the  darkness  shuts  down  close  to  us. 
We  want  to  escape — to  get  beyond,  out  into  a  broader 
space,  where  we  can  see  farther  and  more.  We  beat 
with  restless  wing  against  the  bars  of  our  cage.  We 
meet  all  about  with  mysteries  which  we  cannot  solve. 
The  world  where  we  dwell  is  full  of  them.  This  life 
which  we  can  span  so  easily,  presents  them  every- 
where. We  are  full  of  questions  which  none  can  an- 
swer. And  when  we  rise  above  earth  and  time,  and 
pass  into  another  sphere,  and  look  out  upon  a  broader 
stage,  mysteries — greater,  darker — crowd  upon  us  still 
more  thickly.     Even  that  blessed  book  which  lifts  us 


MYSTERIES    UNVEILED    IN    THE    FUTUKE.  321 

above  time,  and  whereon  as  upon  a  Jacob's  ladder  we 
can  mount  up  and  look  into  the  windows  of  eternity, 
— that  book  which  reveals  to  us  our  immortality,  and 
the  way  to  make  it  blessed,  even  it,  by  the  elevation 
to  which  it  exalts  us,  by  the  wide  reach  of  thought 
which  it  opens,  only  makes  broader  the  field  of  mys- 
tery. Just  as  the  telescope,  by  bringing  unnumbered 
w^orlds  that  the  naked  eye  never  saw  within  the  com- 
pass of  our  vision,  suggests  to  our  excited  thought 
more  than  it  reveals,  the  Bible  suggests  more  ques- 
tions than  it  answers.  It  is  the  great  stirrer  uj)  of 
the  world's  mind.  It  falls  into  it  like  an  impending 
cliff  into  a  motionless  sea.  It  makes  us  heirs  of  eter- 
nity, instead  of  time  and  earth.  It  raises  us  above 
the  finite  into  the  infinite.  It  introduces  us  consciously 
within  the  circle  of  God's  thoughts  and  regards.  We 
are  embraced  within  the  compass  of  His  purposes  and 
plans.  We  are  not  waifs  and  estrays  here.  We  have 
not  been  waked  up  into  a  brief  being  to  perish.  We 
are  not  to  be  stranded  on  the  shores  of  time — we  are 
to  sail  the  ocean  of  eternity.  God  feels  for  us.  Jesus 
died  and  reigns  for  us.  We  are  to  be  taken  up,  and 
embraced  among  the  things  of  eternity.  We  are  to 
act  there.  When  time  shall  have  died,  and  suns  and 
stars  shall  have  been  unsphered,  we  are  to  live.  This 
elevation  which  the  Bible  gives  us,  takes  us  up  into  the 
sphere  of  the  eternal  and  divine.  It  fairly  dwarfs  the 
mysteries  of  earth,  and  makes  those  of  eternity  and  God 
14* 


322  THOUGHTS    FOK   THE    CHKISTIAN    LIFE. 

loom  up  before  us.  We  come  now  to  graj^ple,  to  strive 
to  encomj)ass  the  things  of  God.  We  sway  away  at 
the  great  pillars  of  God's  decrees.  We  put  our  puny 
arms  around  them,  and  strive  to  span  them.  We  stand 
before  the  unrolling  scroll  of  God's  providences,  and 
seek  to  decipher  their  meanin'g,  and  understand  their 
tendencies.  We  strive  to  know  God  by  what  He 
does.  We  question  the  import  of  events  as  they  pass 
before  us.  We  struggle  to  know  why  God  does  as 
He  does  here  and  now.  Tliis  wild  tm^moil  of  earth — 
this  conflict  of  good  and  evil,  and  this  bearing  dowii 
often  of  good  by  the  evil — these  sufferings  which  cover 
the  earth  as  with  a  pall — these  early  and  sudden 
deaths — this  long  delay  to  answer  prayer — this  slow 
advance  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  if  it  advance  at  all — 
these  crushing  woes  that  come  upon  portions  of  our 
race — this  apparent  indifference  of  God  to  them  all ; 
— we  stand  up  before  these  dark  mysteries  of  God  and 
question  them  ;  but  they  are  dumb,  "  They  answer  not 
again."  "  God's  ways  are  in  the  sea,  and  His  paths 
in  the  great  waters,  and  His  footsteps  are  not  known." 
Our  hearts  almost  break  for  the  longing  they  some- 
times feel  to  solve  these  mysteries,  but  God  gives  no 
solution  of  them. 

Some  of  these  doings  of  God  we  cannot  know  now 
from  absolute  incapacity.  We  have  not  the  powers 
to  understand  them.  By  no  language,  no  signs,  could 
God  communicate  the  knowledge  of  them.     It  would 


MYSTERIES    UNVEILED    IN    THE   FUTURE.  323 

be  like  the  child  attempting  to  understand  the  differ- 
ential calculus.  "While  we  are  children,  we  must  think 
and  understand  as  children.  It  indicates  our  great- 
ness that  we  can  be  awed  by  them — be  curious  and 
ask  questions  about  them.  The  beasts  find  no  mys- 
teries, ask  no  questions.  Mere  stupidity  asks  none. 
It  takes  mind,  wakeful  mind  to  ask  questions  intelli- 
gently— to  prize  mysteries  and  stand  thoughtfully  in 
front  of  them,  looking  up  toward  their  summits.  But 
if  this  indicates  our  greatness,  the  fact  that  we  can 
answer  so  few  of  these  questions  indicates  our  little- 
ness.    We  are  great  and  little  at  the  same  time. 

But  then,  while  there  are  many  things  about  the 
doings  of  God  which  we  have  not  capacities  to  ap- 
preciate even  if  He  should  reveal  them,  it  is  also  not 
to  be  denied  that  there  are  other  things  which  we 
could  understand  if  they  were  revealed.  The  knowl- 
edge of  them  is  withheld  not  arbitrarily — not  because 
of  our  incapacity  to  know,  but  for  reasons  aside  from 
these  ;  perhaps  to  make  us  less  fluent  with  our  where- 
fores, to  rebuke  a  vain  curiosity  or  impertinence,  per- 
haps to  try  our  trust,  and  see  if  we  will  believe  where 
we  cannot  know.  It  is  evidently  not  the  main  thing 
w^ith  God  to  make  us  knowing  beings  in  our  present 
state.  He  has  ends  beyond  and  above  that — ends 
possibly  which  would  be  defeated  if  we  were  allowed 
to  know  more.  Tlie  gratification  of  our  cognitive 
faculties  might  thwart  His  benevolent  designs  and 


324  THOUGHTS   FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

obstruct  the  progress  of  our  hearts.  "We  know  more 
than  we  practise.  Our  intellects  are  better  than  our 
hearts.  Our  curiosity  is  greater  than  our  faith.  Our 
hearts  must  be  brought  up  even  with  our  heads — our 
faith  with  our  knowledge.  We  may  not  know  all 
that  we  could  here,  that  we  may  trust,  and  our  sim- 
ple child-like  trust  may  open  up  into  a  wider  and 
clearer  knowledge,  while  he  that  demands  to  know, 
and  refuses' to  trust,  may  be  doomed  to  perpetual 
ignorance. 

But  whatever  may  be  the  cause  why  we  know  not 
now  ;  whether  it  be  from  incapacity,  or  for  purposes 
of  discipline,  one  thing  is  certain — "  what  we  know 
not  now,  we  shall  know  hereafter."  There  is  a  sphere 
where  mysteries  will  be  cleared  up,  questions  answered. 
We  shall  know  hereafter  if  we  trust  here.  We  are 
not  doomed  to  perpetual  ignorance.  The  desire  to 
know  the  doings  of  God  will  not  be  ever  balked. 
Light  will  dawn.     Our  horizon  Avill  widen. 

Some  of  the  dark  things  of  God  may  be  clear 
this  side  the  dark  screen.  Even  now,  perhaps,  some 
things  that  were  once  dark,  are  clear,  and  others  are 
clearing  up  to  us.  Peter  this  side  the  grave  passed 
into  the  meanings  of  Christ's  menial  service.  He 
could  not  understand  it  while  he  and  his  fellow  Apos- 
tles were  contending  who  should  be  greatest  in  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  ;  but  when  he  and  they  came  to 
know  the  true  order  of  nobility  therein — that  he  was 


MYSTEEIES    UNVEILED    IN    THE   FUTURE.  325 

greatest  who  served  most, — tlien  he  understood  it. 
So  we,  as  we  grow  in  the  knowledge  of  God,  come 
more  and  more  into  the  knowledge  of  His  doings. 
"We  get  round  upon  the  illuminated  side  of  them.  "We 
gaze  at  them  from  that  side,  even  as  an  eagle  in  its 
aerial  soarings  looks  down  upon  the  silver  lining  of 
a  cloud  that  seems  all  dark  to  us.  There  is  a  pro- 
gressive relief  to  our  minds.  If  the  advance  of  thought 
brings  new  mysteries  to  view  where  we  must  trust 
alone,  it  certainly  does  relieve  many  of  the  old  ones. 
We  penetrate  them.  We  solve  them.  They  vanish 
forever.  Many  a  child  of  God  has  bowed  before  the 
ways  of  God  as  dark,  which  in  his  advancing  piety 
became  all  light  to  him.  "What  he  knew  not,  he 
knows. 

Still  other  things  await  the  light  of  eternity,  of 
heaven.  Its  light  even  of  itself  will  clear  them.  Light 
makes  manifest.  We  shall  stand  on  those  heights  and 
look  back,  and  at  once  a  thousand  things  now  dark 
will  be  luminous.  Reasons  of  the  divine  doings  will 
stand  out  clearly.  All  the  ways  which  God  has  led 
us  will  lie  like  a  thread  of  silver  light  down  the  moun- 
tain sides  up  which  the  Divine  hand  has  led  us.  We 
shall  see  that  this  dark  calamity — that  loss  of  fortune 
—these  days  of  sickness  and  withdrawal  from  the  busy 
activities  of  life,  and  confinement  in  our  narrow  cham- 
bers— the  sudden  and  untimely  death  of  that  wife  or 
husband,   child,   parent,   friend— what   that   terrible 


326  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

temptation  and  conflict  continuing  througli  months 
or  years, — what  all  the  dealings  of  God  here  below 
had  to  do  with  bringing  ns  to  our  present  position. 
We  shall  see  that  not  one  day  of  darkness,  not  the 
life  of  one  friend,  not  one  trial  could  have  been  spared 
us.  We  shall  see  that  all  that  has  happened  to  us, 
has  been  designed  to  stimulate  or  to  encourage  us ; 
to  wean  us  from  earth  and  to  draw  us  to  heaven.  The 
light  of  heaven  itself  will  probably  show  us  that  God 
hath  led  us  by  a  right,  and  by  the  best  possible  way 
to  a  city  of  habitation. 

The  doings  of  God  and  their  reasons  may  be  the 
subject  of  revelation  from  Him  directly,  or  through 
His  agents.  Angels  may  be  commissioned  to  tell  us, 
or  the  elder  dwellers  from  our  own  world  who  have 
long  bowed  before  the  throne,  and  taking  their  golden 
urns  to  the  fountain,  have  thence  drawn  light.  Those 
who  once  knew  our  trials  and  our  doubts,  may  take 
us  and  teach  us  the  ways  of  God  more  perfectly.  We 
shall  all  of  us  be  little  children  when  we  arrive  there 
— almost  as  ignorant  as  is  the  babe  when  it  lands 
upon  our  earth,  and  these  older  dwellers  may  be  om* 
teachers. 

Still  other  things  will  await  the  expansion  of  our 
minds  in  the  progress  of  eternity.  Tlie  mysteries  of 
God  will  riot  be  all  cleared  up  on  our  first  landing 
in  Heaven :  not  those  which  are  now  the  objects  of 
thought  to  us.     Some  will  be,  but  not  all.     It  Avill 


MYSTERIES    UNVEILED   IN   THE   FUTURE.  327 

be  true  there  as  it  is  here,  that  wliat  we  know  not, 
we  shall  know  hereafter.  Even  angels,  we  are  told, 
desire  to  look  into  and  investigate  the  mysteries  of 
redemption.  There  are  things  about  it  which  they 
cannot  teach  us,  for  they  do  not  know  them.  Our 
way  there,  as  it  should  be  here,  will  be  on  high.  Mys- 
teries will  be  darkening  and  clearing  away — rising 
and  setting  in  slow  and  steady  procession  forever. 
Earth  is  not  the  only  world  of  mystery,  and  we  are 
not  the  only  order  of  beings  w^ho  must  bow  before  it. 
Wherever  God  is,  there  is  and  will  be  mystery.  When 
we  have  traversed  the  longest  arch  of  knowledge,  we 
shall  be  constrained  to  say,  "  Lo,  these  are  a  part  of 
Thy  ways !  "  We  shall  be  finding  out,  and  still  search- 
ing to  find  out  forever :  and  yet  it  is  true  that  these 
doings  of  God  which  lower  so  darkly  in  our  path — 
which  break  upon  us  as  the  waves  of  a  head-beat  sea 
break  upon  the  staggering  ship,  and  almost  stun  us, — 
these  will  be  cleared  up. 

1  am  inclined  to  the  opinion  that  the  dark  doings 
in  God's  Providence  will  all  be  solved  before  or  at  the 
Judgment  of  the  great  day.  Up  to  that  time  neither 
the  progress  of  the  human  soul,  nor  the  light  of 
heaven,  nor  the  instruction  of  angels  or  of  men  made 
perfect,  will  make  all  the  dark  things  light.  That 
day  will.  It  will  be  the  day  of  the  revelation  of  the 
righteous  judgments  of  God.  It  will  be  the  termina- 
tion of  the  mystery  of  God's  dealings  with  men.  That 
day  will  put  an  end  to  mere  trust  with  reference  to 


328  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

these  things  simply,  though  not  with  respect  to  other 
things.  Then  our  knowledge  will  begin.  We  may 
not  know  all  up  to  that  time ;  then  God  will  stand 
revealed  and  acquitted  at  the  bar  of  every  intelligent 
soul  in  the  universe. 

We  see  in  the  light  of  our  subject  that  the  Gospel 
alone  promises  and  makes  sure  knowledge  to  men. 
It  has  been  charged  with  suppressing  the  spirit  of  in- 
quiry, blinding  the  soul,  demanding  an  easy  and  un- 
solicitous  faith.  It  does,  indeed,  demand  faith,  but 
only  in  the  sphere  where  faith  legitimately  operates. 
If  there  is  an  intense  desire  to  know  more  than  it  re- 
veals, it  is  because  it  has  revealed  so  much ;  it  has 
created  the  mysteries  which  it  promises  to  solve.  If 
it  does  not  gratify  curiosity,  it  does  not  suppress  or 
crush  it.  It  tells  the  human  soul  to  gather  up  its 
hard  questions,  to  put  them  on  file,  and  pledges  the 
answer  to  the  trasting  spirit.  It  points  to  the  illimit- 
able future,  and  says,  "It  is  all  my  own;  on  that 
theatre  I  will  meet  you  and  solve  all." 

We  see  the  wisdom  of  quietly  waiting.  The 
clouds  will  roll  up  and  oflf  from  the  dark  doings  of 
God.  We  stand  and  look  up  to  them  in  dread  amaze- 
ment. We  shudder  as  the  wheels  of  Providence 
sweep  by,  and  we  see  not  the  eyes  that  guide  them. 
But  they  are  there.  Time  is  the  night — Eternity  is 
the  day  of  God.  Let  us  trust  Ilim  where  we  cannot 
know.  We  shall  know  if  we  will  wait.  We  shall 
know  when  it  will  be  best  to  know. 


XXX. 

POSITION  AND  CHARACTER    COINCIDENT    IN   THE    DIVINE 
REALM. 

But  in  a  great  house  there  are  not  only  vessels  of  gold  and  of 
silver^  hut  also  of  wood  and  of  earth  ;  and  some  to  honor ^  and 
some  to  dishonor.  Xf  a  man  therefore  purge  himself  from 
these,  he  shall  he  a  vessel  unto  honor,  sanctified  and  meet  for 
the  Master^s  use,  and  prepared  unto  every  good  worTc. — 2  Tim. 
ii.  20,  21. 

A  SIMPLE  fact,  well  known  in  our  household 
experiences,  is  here  referred  to.  In  all  our 
dwellings  there  are  vessels,  if  not  of  gold  and  sil- 
ver, yet  of  comparative  preciousness ;  and  others,  if 
not  of  wood  and  earth,  yet  of  comparative  worthless- 
ness — some  occupying  positions  of  relative  honor,  and 
some  of  dishonor  ;  some  that  are  kept  for  great  occa- 
sions, others  for  common  use.  The  intimation  also  is, 
that  in  our  Heavenly  Father's  house  it  is  the  same. 
In  it,  as  in  our  common  dwellings,  there  are  vessels 
of  gold  and  silver,  and  those  of  wood  and  earth  ;  some 
for  positions  of  honor,  and  some  for  dishonor.  The 
law  of  fitness  prevails  in  His  house  vastly  more  than 
in  common  dwellings.     Precious  vessels  are  used  for 


330  THOUGHTS   FOR  THE   CHKISTIAiT   LIFE. 

high  purposes,  and  earthy  ones  for  ignoble  ones. 
Nothing  is  out  of  place. 

Dropping  the  figure,  the  right  men  are  put  in  the 
right  places. 

The  diversity  of  position  in  God's  realm,  the  law 
fixed  and  irreversible  of  elevated  position,  and  the  uses 
future  and  eternal  of  souls  corresponding  to  qualifica- 
tion,— these  are  the  topics  suggested  by  the  text. 

And  Jirst — the  diversity  of  position  in  God's  realm 
— ^vessels  of  honor  and  dishonor.  'No  house  is 
equipped  without  both.  God's  universe  has  both. 
The  order  of  the  universe  is  monarchical,  or  if  demo- 
cratic, yet  only  so  as  each  member  springs  or  sinks 
spontaneously  to  his  own  position.  God's  creation  is 
not,  and  never  will  be,  smoothed  into  a  monotonous 
evenness.  J^ot  a  Western  prairie,  stretching  out 
miles  on  a  dead  level,  but  a  New  England  prospect 
from  some  lofty  hill-top,  is  its  analogue.  There  are 
heights  and  depths — mountain  ranges  and  valleys — 
towering  peaks,  and  corresponding  depressions  in  the 
scenery  of  God's  spiritual  landscape — souls  soaring  as 
on  eagle's  wings,  and  souls  sinking  as  with  a  leaden 
gravity.  It  is  not  for  me,  or  for  any  of  us  so  much  to 
defend  this  order,  as  it  certainly  is  not  our  province  to 
murmur  at  it,  but  simply  to  accept  it.  God  did  not 
make  his  realm  after  our  thought,  but  after  His  own, 
and  we  are  not  to  go  about  to  conjecture  what  might 
have  been,  but  to  see  what  is.     And  this  is  the  con- 


POSITION  AND  CHARACTER  COINCIDENT  IN  HEAVEN.      331 

stitution  of  creation, — diversity  of  position  exhibited 
here  in  this  world  ;  exhibited  possibly,  yea,  probably, 
still  more  in  the  other  sphere  into  which  this  opens. 
It  is  sufficient  simply  to  state  this  diversity  so  patent 
to  all — lying  upon  the  very  surface  of  life — indicated 
so  clearly  in  this  and  in  all  parts  of  the  Scripture. 

In  the  second  place,  the  Law,  fixed  and  irreversible 
of  elevation,  is  indicated  in  our  text.  If  a  man  purge 
himself  from  these^  that  is,  from  false  doctrines,  affec- 
tions, practices,  from  all  that  is  debasing,  impure,  un- 
holy, he  shall  be  a  vessel  unto  honor.  The  law  of 
elevation  as  here  expressed,  lies  wholly  in  moral 
qualities — things  that  lie  within  the  compass  of  our 
will.  There  is  doubtless  a  law  of  position,  of  eleva- 
tion, lying  outside  of  our  mere  will,  inhering  in  pure- 
ly natural  qualities,  in  things  conferred  on  us  at  our 
birth,  in  the  simple  sovereignty  of  the  Almighty. 
Some  men  have  their  position  assigned  them  m  theii- 
mere  gifts.  Great  minds  have  great  positions  opened 
to  them,  great  tasks  imposed  upon  them.  Little 
minds  cannot  do  the  work,  perform  the  function,  or 
spring  to  the  places  of  large  ones.  One  kind  of  gifts 
cannot  fill  the  posts  of  another  kind.  Natural  gifts 
point  to  their  own  places  in  this  and  in  all  Avorlds. 
Moral  qualities  do  not  make  up  always  for  natural 
deficiencies.  A  good  heart  will  not  make  a  profound 
mathematician,  nor  a  great  discoverer,  nor  a  great 
poet,  or  statesman,  or  orator,  or  writer.     God  doubt- 


THOUGHTS   FOE   THE   CHEISTIAN   LIFE. 

less  has  positions  in  the  next  world,  as  He  has  in  this, 
which  none  but  the  higher  order  of  gifts  can  filL 
And  yet  onr  text  is  in  correspondence  with  the  whole 
range  of  Scriptural  teaching, — that  true  honor  is  de- 
pendent on  moral  qualities  in  the  Divine  kingdom. 

"  If  a  man  purge  himself,  he  shall  be  a  vessel  unto 
honor."  If  any  man  purge  himself,  no  matter  who 
he  is,  no  matter  where  he  is  born,  in  what  age,  in 
what  country  or  rank  in  life,  no  matter  with  what 
natural  endowments,  great  or  small,  with  what  op- 
portunities, few  or  many ;  if  he  purge  himself,  he 
shall  be  a  vessel  of  honor,  shall  be  put  to  some  high 
and  honorable  use  in  the  Father's  house.  So  that 
the  range  of  honor  is  limited  in  the  Divine  kingdom 
to  the  sphere  of  moral  qualities.  The  pure  ones  shall 
be  the  gold  and  silver  vessels  there — all  else  are  wood 
or  earth.  This  is  the  irreversible  Law  of  elevation — 
this  will  fix  a  man's  position. 

In  the  kingdoms  of  this  world  men  are  born  to 
honorable  places,  or  they  rise  to  them  by  mere  gifts, 
or  they  creep  to  them  in  their  own  slime,  or  they 
worm  their  way  to  them  by  having  no  opinions  or 
judiciously  concealing  them,  by  sycophancy,  by 
adroitness,  by  tergiversations,  by  the  arts  of  political 
legerdemain,  by  anything  but  honest  opinions,  and  a 
free  expression  of  them.  But  in  the  Divine  kingdom, 
those  only  win  its  honors,  its  lol'ty  positions,  who  are 
worthy  of  them.     The  pure  man  shall  be  a  vessel  of 


POSITION  AND  CHARACTER  COINCIDENT  IN  HEAVEN.     333 

lionor.  So  that  we  see  how  it  is  that  men  must  often 
abjure  the  high  positions  of  this  world  to  win  the 
high  stations  of  the  next — be  inconspicuous  here  that 
they  may  be  conspicuous  there — sink  low  here,  that 
they  may  rise  to  a  lofty  height  there.  Whenever  a 
denial  or  concealment  of  the  loftier  qualities  is  de- 
manded for  the  furtherance  of  the  man  here,  then  he 
must  decline  promotion  here  that  he  may  win  it  there. 
Not  that  a  man  is  to  put  the  honors  of  this  world  into 
the  one  scale,  and  those  of  the  next  into  the  other, 
and  choose  skilfully  between  them  ;  not  that  he  is  to 
make  it  a  mere  question  of  j)i'ofit  and  loss,  looked  at 
through  the  whole  term  of  his  being,  and  deferring 
present  honors  so  small,  select  those  so  great ;  to  bar- 
ter one  set  of  honors  for  another,^this  is  not  holiness 
at  all,  it  may  be  the  broadest  selfishness.  This,  the 
man  bent  on  purifying  himself  will  not  do.  The 
purity  is  what  he  aims  at.  The  purity  is  its  own  all- 
sufficient  reward.  Eut  seeking  that  for  its  own  sake 
— having  won  it  by  the  grace  of  God,  he,  as  the  result 
of  it,  will  be  a  vessel  of  honor  in  the  house  of  our  God. 
This  puts  the  honors  of  eternity  clear  out  of  the 
reach  of  accident  or  chance,  or  mere  blind  sover- 
eignty, which,  with  many,  is  the  synonym  of  un- 
reason, and  brings  them  within  the  sphere  of  order, 
of  cause  and  effect,  where  reason  holds  sway,  where 
we  may  choose  one  object  and  know  what  will  come 
of  our  choice.     God  wants  pure  men  in  His  kingdom, 


334  THOUGHTS   FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

and,  if  I  may  go  fiirtlier,  I  would  say,  He  wants  men 
who  have  not  been  made  pure  simply  by  some  Al- 
mighty stroke — like  a  sun-stroke — coming  down  upon 
them  out  of  the  heavens — made  pure,  if  that  were  pos- 
sible, without  any  agency  of  their  own  ;  but  He  wants 
those  who  have  purified  themselves,  not  without  but 
with  the  Divine  help,  men  who  have  climbed  up  out 
of  great  depths  into  sublime  heights,  men  who  have 
been  shipwrecked  and  then  swam  for  their  lives, 
and  reached  the  shore,  and  clung  to  the  crags  with 
their  very  teeth,  and  have  held  on  while  the  great 
waves  have  beaten  in  upon  them,  and  through  tena- 
cious climbing  and  death-like  struggle,  have  finally 
clambered  up  and  got  safely  out  of  the  floods.  He 
wants  these  men  for  vessels  of  honor  in  his  kingdom, 
and  He  tells  us  so,  and  incites  us  to  do  our  best,  to 
clear  the  chambers  of  imagery,  to  work  away  Hercules- 
like in  the  Augean  stable  of  our  natures,  and  purify 
ourselves,  that  so  we  may  be  vessels  of  honor.  It  is 
not  if  a  man  is  purged  by  some  foreign  force,  but  if 
he  purify  himself,  that  he  shall  be  a  vessel  of  honor — 
a  vessel  plunged  in  the  great  fountain,  and  brought 
up  brimming  and  dripping  from  its  dei^ths—ftdl  of 
honor.  There  will  be  some  purged  large  vessels  and 
some  small  ones,  some  Pauls  and  some  of  vastly  in- 
ferior grades,  but  all  vessels  of  honor,  and  all  full. 
Striking  a  line  through  the  intelligent  creation,  and 
putting  its  population  on  the  one  or  the  other  side  of 


POSITION  AND  CHAKACTEK  COINCIDENT  IN  HEAVEN.     335 

it,  those  who  liave  purged  themselves  through  Divine 
grace  will  be  on  the  side  of  honor,  not  one  of  them  on 
the  side  of  dishonor ;  all  in  the  resurrection  trump 
will  wake  to  honor,  not  one  of  them  to  shame  and 
everlasting  contempt. 

But  there  is  a  third  element  in  our  text,  and  that 
is,  the  uses,  future  and  eternal,  which  these  purified 
souls,  these  vessels  of  honor,  of  gold  and  silver,  will 
subserve.  "  If  a  man  purge  himself,  he  shall  be  a 
vessel  unto  honor,  sanctified  and  meet  for  the  master's 
use,  and  j)repared  unto  every  good  work."  A  ra- 
tional man  neither  makes  nor  purchases  any  vessels 
without  a  purpose.  He  does  not  go  into  the  market 
and  buy  here  and  there  at  random,  giving  up  all  to 
caprice.  lie  knows  what  he  wants.  He  has  his 
house  furnished  in  his  soul  before  he  has  it  furnished 
in  reality.  If  he  has  built  it  wisely,  orderly,  and 
well,  he  knows  what  will  fill  out  his  idea,  and  make 
his  house  seem  the  thing  that  he  planned.  He  buys 
nothing  for  mere  show,  all  for  use,  and  perhaps  the 
costliest  things  that  he  buys  are  for  the  use  of  beauty. 
So  with  our  Divine  Father,  He  has  built  His  house, 
and  He  is  furnishing  it  with  the  costliest  furnitm-e, 
the  most  polished,  honorable  vessels,  living,  sanctified 
souls.  "  He  that  purgeth  himself,  shall  be  a  vessel 
of  honor,  meet  for  the  master's  use." 

God  means  the  souls  that  He  is  purifying,  and 
that  are  purifying  themselves  for  use,  not  simply  for 


336  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE    CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

show,  not  to  demonstrate  in  the  eyes  of  an  always 
allegiant  creation  what  His  grace  can  do ;  not  for 
dumb,  silent,  though  glorious  display  mainly,  but  for 
use.  I  do  not  say  use  in  the  sense  in  which  the  term 
passes  in  the  market  as  the  equivalent  of  utility,  but 
use  in  the  highest,  broadest  sense  of  the  word.  They 
are  to  be  useful  within  that  meaning  of  the  term 
which  makes  all  right,  all  beautiful  things  useful, 
which  makes  a  flower  useful,  though  no  eye  but  God's 
should  see  it — which  makes  every  product  of  the 
painter's  brush,  or  the  sculptor's  chisel  useful,  though 
it  be  shut  up  in  some  private  dwelling.  In  the  deep- 
est sense,  the  men  that  stay  on  the  earth,  piu^ified  in 
part,  and  those  that  pass  up  to  Heaven,  purified 
wholly,  "  are  irneet  for  the  master's  use,  and  prepared 
unto  every  good  work." 

It  opens  up  a  glorious  prospect  beyond  ;  it  gives 
the  loftiest  inspiration  to  struggle  after  purity,  that 
while  we  are  attaining  it,  and  when  we  have  attained 
it,  we  shall  be  meet  for  the  Master's  use,  and  be  made 
to  subserve  that  use.  If  there  be  anything  discourag- 
ing to  all  true  natures,  it  is  the  idea  of  uselessness,  of 
being  hung  up,  a  mere  weed,  on  the  shores  of  time  or 
eternity ;  condemned  to  be  nothing  and  do  nothing. 
You  may  place  a  true  soul  in  any  position,  put  a  true 
man  into  any  palace,  with  any  suinptuousness  of  fur- 
niture or  equipage,  with  any  surroundings  of  wealth 
or  society,  and  if  you  condemn  him  to  be  useless,  you 


POSITION  AND  CHAKACTER  COINCIDENT  IN  HEAVEN.     337 

condemn  him  to  a  gilded  woe.  We  want  to  subserve 
some  nse,  fulfil  some  function.  An  eternal  useless- 
ness  would  be  an  eternal  hell.  A  heaven  of  simple 
enjoyment  without  use,  could  be  no  heaven.  The 
vessel  of  honor  is  to  be  a  vessel  of  use.  The  sancti- 
fied soul  is  to  be  a  useful  soul,  not  merely  here,  but 
through  its  whole  history.  The  master  has  use  for 
all  souls,  niches  for  them  to  occupy,  errands  for  them 
to  run,  missions  for  them  to  fulfil,  and  the  sanctified 
soul  is  meet  for  use,  and  prepared  for  every  good 
work. 

In  the  common  vocations  of  life,  it  requires  the 
apprenticeship  and  discipline  of  years  to  fit  one  for  a 
single  trade  or  business  of  life.  Skill  in  special  func- 
tions is  the  result  of  patience  and  long  pains-taking, 
and  to  do  one  work  well  tasks  all  the  powers,  and 
takes  all  the  time  of  any  man.  Preparation  for  all 
good  work  is  no  possibility  of  man  on  earth.  But  in 
this  higher  realm  of  spiritual  work  and  use,  there 
seems  to  be  a  single  antecedent  qualification,  and  that 
Impurity.  The  man  that  purgeth  himself  is  meet  for 
the  Master's  use,  and  prepared  for  every  good  work. 
Purity,  if  it  be  self-won,  seems  to  be  like  a  universal 
genius  in  the  arts.  A  pure  man  is  prepared  for  every 
good  work.  It  comes  handy  to  him.  He  has  a  knack 
for  it.     He  is  fitted  for  all  missions,  for  all  work. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  vessels  of  honor ;  who  they 
are,  and  their  lofty  vocation  in  the  eternal  future, 
15 


338  THOUGHTS  FOB  THE  CHEISTIAN   LIFE. 

and  of  the  law  of  their  fitness.  Alas !  there  is 
another  side.  There  are  vessels  of  dishonor,  vessels 
that  wiU  be  plunged  in  the  fountain  of  dishonor,  drip- 
ping and  brimming.  What  are  these  ?  How  do  they 
become  so  ?  The  law  is  sure,  irreversible  on  this  side 
as  on  the  other.     Which  shall  we  be  ? 


XXXI. 

MANY    MANSIONS    IN    THE    FATHER'S   HOUSE. 
In  my  Father^ 8  house  are  many  mansions. — John  xiv.  2. 

THIS  forms  a  part  of  the  last  discourse  of  Jesus 
to  His  disciples  before  His  crucifixion.  He  had 
before  told  them  of  His  speedy  departure  from  earth, 
and  He  wished  to  console  them  under  this  announce- 
ment. He  was  to  leave  them  and  pass  out  of  their 
sight,  but  He  was  not  to  go  beyond  the  region  of 
sympathy  and  fellowship  with  them.  Though  absent 
from  earth,  and  no  longer  visible  to  their  natural  eye, 
He  was  yet  in  their  common  Father's  home.  This 
was  a  weighty  consideration,  and  eminently  adapted 
to  console  them,  as  it  is  us,  under  their  bereavement. 
"  I  shall  be  no  longer  with  you,  but  I  shall  be  in  our 
Father's  house,  not  in  the  same  mansion,  but  in  one 
of  the  many  that  compose  it."  The  thought  is  cheer- 
ing when  we  consider  the  position  of  Christ  with 
respect  to  us,  and  it  is  also  cheering  when  we  consider 
the  position  of  our  pious  friends  who  have  gone  from 


340  THOUGHTS   FOK   THE   CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

among  us.  Christ  and  they  alike  are  in  our  Father's 
house. 

Two  thoughts  are  prominent  in  our  text.  First^ 
All  parts  of  the  universe  are  our  Father's  house ;  and 
Second,   In  that  Father's  house  are  many  mansions. 

And,  first,  The  entire  universe  is  our  Father's 
house.  He  inhabits  it,  is  in  one  part  of  it  as  much  as 
in  another,  though  He  may  not  manifest  Himself  as 
conspicuously  in  one  part  as  in  another  ;  yet  He  is  in 
it  all  as  a  dweller.  "We  can  go  nowhere  in  it,  he 
nowhere  in  it  without  Him,  and  if  we  are  allegiant  to 
Him,  without  His  paternal  recognition  and  regards. 
We  can  have  Him  everywhere  in  it  as  a  protector,  a 
friend  tender  and  sympathetic.  We  can  call  upon 
Him,  and  He  will  answer  us  and  draw  nigli  to  us. 
He  fills  immensity,  He  dwells  in  it,  and  may  render 
all  sections  of  it  social  and  homelike.  In  no  part  of 
this  vast  universe,  wandering  up  and  dow^n  its  vast 
corridors,  journeying  out  into  its  far-retr(3ating  ex- 
tremities, need  we,  shall  we  be  alone ;  need  we  feel 
solitary  and  forsaken.  Wherever  we  go,  on  some 
high  errand  of  duty,  on  some  lofty  excursion  of  inves- 
tigation or  benevolence,  we  shall  be  in  our  Father's 
house  ;  its  imperial  avails  wdll  encompass  us,  its  roof 
will  shelter  us.  God  our  Father  w^ill  be  there, 
making  what  would  be  otherwise  solitary,  social. 

Second,  In  this  one  house  of  our  Father  are  many 
mansions  or  apartments ;  how^   many  we  know  not. 


MANY    MANSIONS    IN    THE   FATHEK's    HOUSE.         341 

Christ  tells  us  so,  and  modern  science  confirms  the 
fact  on  a  grand  scale.  The  telescope  reveals  a  firma- 
ment crowded  with  worlds,  all  of  which  are  under 
one  all-comprehensive  law,  all  fulfilling  their  courses, 
obedient  to  central  authority — all  within  our  Father's 
domain — all  mansions  in  His  house.  If  occupied  by 
living  beings,  they  are  subject  to  Him,  they  owe  alle- 
giance to  Him,  they  claim  and  gain  protection  of 
Him.  If  occupied  by  intelligent  beings,  however 
they  may  difi'er  from  us  in  physical  or  mental  struc- 
ture, they  are  yet  our  brethren,  as  being  children  of 
a  common  Father.  It  needs  but  an  acknowledgment 
of  allegiance  to  Him  on  the  part  of  any  section  of  in- 
telligent creatures,  to  bring  them  within  the  range  of 
our  sympathies  and  affections.  If  they  and  we  love 
Him,  we  love  each  other.  Common  regard  for  Him, 
common  obedience  to  Him,  bring  us  into  companion- 
ship with  each  other.  They  and  we  are  in  the  one 
house  of  our  Father,  though  we  occupy  remote  and 
different  apartments.  Our  remoteness  does  not  make 
us  strangers,  nearly  as  much  as  our  common  love  to 
Him,  the  Head  and  Master  of  the  house,  makes  us 
companions.  We  may  send  our  winged  thought  out 
as  far  as  it  can  fly,  we  may  penetrate  to  worlds  which 
no  glass  reveals,  we  may  conceive  of  stars  so  remote 
that  no  arithmetic  can  compute  the  distance ;  but  if 
we  find  minds  and  hearts  there  made  by  the  Great 
mind   and  heart  of  God,  they  are  occupants  of  our 


34:2  THOUGHTS   FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

Father's  house,  the  same  house  that  we  occupy,  and 
so  are  our  kindred,  and  our  friends,  and  brothers.  "We 
could  meet  them  to-day,  here  in  our  restricted  and 
secluded  abode ;  we  could  meet  them  in  their  per- 
haps broader  and  grander  mansion,  or  we  could  meet 
them  on  the  broad  highways  of  creation ;  and  what 
there  would  be  in  common  to  us  would  infinitely  out- 
weigh what  there  would  be  special  and  peculiar  to  us. 
There  would  be  grounds  of  comity  and  amity  and 
fraternity,  broader  than  those  of  isolation  and  strange- 
ness. 

They  and  we  dwell  in  one  house  of  our  Father. 
They  and  we  acknowledge  one  God  who  is  our 
Father,  and  so  what  would  unite  us  is  vastly  more 
than  what  would  divide  us.  "We  should  not  fear  to 
meet  them.  They  might  be  great  and  we  small,  they 
filled  with  the  garnered  knowledge  of  centuries  and 
vast  journeyings,  and  we  narrow  and  restricted  in 
knowledge ;  they  might  be  overflowing  with  a  ser- 
aph's love,  and  burn  and  glow  with  admiration  of  our 
Father's  character,  and  we  might,  as  we  so  often  do, 
cleave  to  the  dust ;  still,  if  we  acknowledged  one  God 
and  Father,  we  should  meet  on  the  basis  of  a  blessed 
brotherhood  ;  should  be  occupants  of  one  house,  whose 
apartments  stretched  through  infinity.  "We  should 
say,  as  we  each  considered  our  home,  "  it  is  the  one 
house  of  our  Father,  and  its  roof  canopies  us  and  our 
difi'ering  apartments." 


MAirS"    MANSIONS    IN   THE   FATIIEr's    HOUSE.         34:3 

The  idea  of  our  text  has  food  for  the  intellect.  It 
sends  the  scientific  investigator  out  into  tlie  depths  of 
space  in  the  full  assurance  that  he  will  find  no  orphan- 
world,  cast  ofi"  from  the  cares  and  laws  of  our  Maker. 
He  will  feel  that  whatever  new  star  comes  within  the 
circuit  of  his  observation,  it  will  come,  not  as  an 
estray  with  no  cords  binding  it  to  its  fellows  ;  but  it 
will  come  with  the  confession  of  a  blessed  unity,  with 
submission  to  common  laws,  a  new  mansion  giving 
new  enlargement  to  our  already  expanded  views  of 
the  greatness  of  our  Father's  house.  And  as  it  gives 
new  food  to  the  intellect,  so  does  our  text  give  new 
food  and  new  enlargement  to  our  hearts.  "  In  our 
Father's  house  are  many  mansions."  Science  tells  us 
that  ours  is  comparatively  but  a  little  world,  although 
it  is  so  large.  We  know,  too,  that  it  is  in  an  import- 
ant sense  secluded.  AYe  hear  no  voices,  we  see  no 
signals  from  other  worlds.  We  know  not  their  con- 
stitution, nor  whether  they  are  occupied.  AVe  know 
not  whether  they  are  finished  or  are  now  in  the  pro- 
cess of  construction.  We  know  not  the  character  of 
their  occupants  if  any  they  have.  We  know  very 
little  about  them  ;  but  under  the  statement  of  our  text 
we  know  this  :  that  we  have  a  friendly  interest  in  all 
those  worlds,  as  being  in  the  one  house  of  our  Father  ; 
that  their  occupants,  if  they  do  or  shall  exist,  are 
our  brethren  ;  that  we  have  but  to  know  of  their  ex- 
istence, and  we  are  prepared  to  love  them  as  being 


344:  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

our  brethren.  So  that  our  text  gives  a  new  interest- 
to  the  investigations  of  science,  confirming  what 
science  teaches  us,  that  all  worlds  are  linked  together ; 
and  also  gives  new  scope  to  our  hearts,  immeasurably 
enlarging  the  sphere  of  their  sympathies  and  affec- 
tions. 

This  declaration  of  our  Saviour  gives  us  repose  and 
solace,  in  our  contemplations  of  the  vastness  of  God's 
universe.  1  think  all  minds  at  times,  under  the  reve- 
lations of  the  telescope,  get  bewildered  and  lost  in  the 
sense  of  the  vastness  of  the  universe.  We  roam 
through  it,  and  its  grandeur  oppresses  us.  We  seem 
too  little  for  it.  It  overmasters  us.  We  cannot  bear 
the  vast  stretches  over  which  it  carries  us,  and  we 
shrink  back,  and  nestle  down  in  our  little  world,  like 
a  bird  after  its  flights  in  its  quiet  nest;  sometimes 
preferring  littleness  to  greatness,  a  world  where  we 
can  feel  the  warm  breath  of  sympathy,  to  a  world 
that  oppresses  us  by  its  vastness  and  strangeness  and 
solitude.  E'ow  I  shall  not  forget  this  element  in  our 
nature  that  clings  to  the  local  and  the  known ;  but, 
then,  while  we  love  the  local  and  the  naiTOW,  it  is  not 
enough  for  us.  We  want  a  narrow  home  to  settle 
down  in,  but  then  we  want  a  universe  to  send  our 
thought  through,  to  stretch  our  minds  and  hearts 
upon.  Only  let  us  feel  that  we  are  not  aliens  in  it 
and  strangers,  that  we  are  not  stretching  beyond  our 
measure  when  we  arc  roaming  in  it,  that  we  are  not 


going  out  of  our  Father's  house,  or  out  of  the  reach 
of  our  friends  and  kindred,  and  then  the  universe  will 
not  oppress  us.  The  Saviour  did  not  feel  that  He  was 
going  into  a  strange  place  when  He  left  the  world 
that  gave  Him  birth ;  and  we  shall  not,  whether  in 
imagination  we  depart  from  earth,  or  whether,  in- 
deed, our  souls  take  their  flight  above. 

The  text  also  gives  us  a  lofty  idea  of  the  nmnifi- 
cence  of  our  Father.  He  has  fitted  up  such  a  liouse, 
w^th  such  apartments  varied  and  beautiful,  not  for 
Himself  but  for  His  children.  He  dwells  in  it  all, 
and  in  each  of  its  many  mansions.  He  has  not  left 
one  of  them  without  reminders  of  Himself.  He  has 
crowded  each  with  mementoes  of  His  thoughtful  kind- 
ness. If  one  were  to  live  for  many  thousand  years  in 
the  single  narrow  room  into  which  he  is  born,  and 
where  he  is  disciplined  for  eternity,  the  grandest  mind 
of  the  race  would  not  exhaust  tlie  themes  for  study 
and  admiration.  Tlie  secrets  of  a  single  world,  its 
inhabitants  will  never  open.  And  if  one,  and  that  a 
narrow  world,  absolutely  astounds  us  at  the  indica- 
tions of  our  Father's  resources,  His  boundless  munifi- 
cence,— what  must  all  the  apartments  of  this  vast 
house  open  to  the  gazing  and  wondering  spirits  that 
occupy  them  !  If  one  world  causes  us  to  stop  and 
wonder,  if  it  absolutely  confounds  us  with  what  it  ex- 
hibits of  our  Father's  wisdom  and  generosity,  what 

15* 


346  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

shall  we  say  to  all  that  He  has  spread  in  such  profu- 
sion over  all  llis  dwellings  ! 

I  have  said  that  we  are  in  a  state  of  seclusion  in 
our  world.  We  are  shut  up  in  it.  We  have  no  in- 
struments of  locomotion  beyond  its  limits.  We  have 
no  wings  that  can  fan  the  upper  ether.  We  can  see 
in  the  depths  of  space  the  other  apartments  of  our 
Father's  house,  but  we  cannot  cross  the  threshold  of 
our  own  while  in  life,  and  go  out  to  make  minute 
discoveries  in  the  abodes  that  our  brethren  occupy. 
This  is  doubtless  well.  Our  seclusion  has  wise  ends 
of  discipline  for  the  present.  We  can  best  subserve 
present  purposes  by  limitation.  But  seclusion  will 
not  always  be  the  law.  Ultimately,  doubtless,  all 
the  apartments  of  our  Father's  house  will  be  open  to 
us.  We  shall  have  the  liberty  of  the  whole  house, 
and  of  all  its  rooms.  We  shall  not  always  be  prison- 
ers, knocking  against  the  walls  of  our  prison-house, 
if  we  indeed  can  call  our  house  a  prison,  even  by  the 
widest  stretch  of  rhetorical  language.  We  shall  jour- 
ney whithersoever  subdued,  obedient,  and  loving 
spirits  shall  prompt  us  to  go.  We  shall  feel  no  sense 
of  restriction  or  confinement.  If  it  will  add  to  our 
bliss  to  fathom  the  secrets,  and  know  our  brethren  in 
other  worlds — in  remote  mansions  of  our  Father's 
house,  we  shall  feel  no  constraint  on  our  sanctified 
propensities.  There  as  here,  will  be  those  who  will 
love  to  roam,  as  there  will  be  those  who  will  love  to  stay. 


MANY    MANSIONS    IN    THE   FATHKr's    HOUSE.         347 

The  text  affords  ns  strong  consolation  in  the  death 
of  our  pious  friends.  They  are  not  unhoused  when 
they  pass  out  of  the  world.  They  have  not  gone  to 
some  home  of  which  they  and  we  can  know  nothing. 
They  are  there  as  they  were  here,  in  our  Father's 
house.  They  in  one,  we  in  another  apartment.  "We 
in  one  adapted  to  wise,  moral  ends,  and  liaving  bless- 
ed disciplinary  purposes,  but  they  doubtless  in  a  more 
glorious  apartment — one  that  shall  more  perfectly 
exhibit  the  goodness  and  munificence  of  the  one 
Father — one  that  shall  be  better  fitted  for  their  ad- 
vanced and  purified  spirits,  and  their  more  blessed 
society  and  engagements.  They  are  not  strangers 
where  they  are.  They  have  friends  to  greet  them 
there,  more  and  warmer  than  they  had  to  greet  them 
here  when  they  first  landed  upon  our  earth.  Tliey 
are  not  lost  in  the  immensity  of  God's  works.  Tliey 
have  a  home.  They  have  the  home  feeling.  Their 
bodies  we  deposited  m  tears  in  the  grave,  as  a  seed 
that  shall  ultimately  germinate  and  grow  into  the 
plant  of  an  immortal  life.  But  their  spirits  have 
gone  up  into  some  one  of  those  many  apartments  that 
make  up  the  one  house  of  our  Father.  Tlieir  earthly 
house  is  dissolved,  but  they  have  still  "  a  building  of 
God,  eternal  in  the  heavens." 

Tlie  text  comes  with  an  immensely  practical  ques- 
tion to  each  one  of  us.  Is  the  builder  and  Master  of 
this  vast  house  in  which  there  are  so  many  mansions 


348  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

our  Father  ?  Have  we  the  filial  spirit  toward  Him? 
Have  we  returned  from  our  wanderings,  and  through 
faith  in  His  Son,  been  adopted  into  His  family,  and 
constituted  His  heirs  ?  This  one  house,  with  its 
many  mansions — with  its  glorious  apparatus — with 
its  rich  furniture,  with  all  there  is  in  it  to  make  wise 
and  blessed,  is  not  for  His  enemies,  not  for  aliens,  it 
is  for  His  children.  If  we,  without  presumption,  in 
the  meekest  penitence  and  trust,  can  call  God  our 
Father — then  may  we  call  His  house  ours,  its  apart- 
ments ours,  as  we  shall  want  them  for  our  enlarge- 
ment, our  comfort,  our  joy. 


xxxn. 

THE  PERFECT  SATISFACTION  OF  THE  SAINTS  IN  HEAVEN. 

/  shall  de  satisfied  when  I  awalce  with   thy  likeness. — Psalm 
xvii.  15. 

THE  more  immediate  idea  in  this  passage  seems 
to  be,  that  whenever  the  Psalmist  awoke  from 
sleep,  he  felt  satisfied  or  joyful  in  the  favor  of  God. 
Worldly  men  awake  to  prosecute  earthly  objects,  and 
to  find  joy  and  satisfaction  in  them.  He  awoke  to 
find  satisfaction  in  God. 

But  though  this  is  the  more  immediate  reference, 
yet  the  mind  by  a  natural  law  of  association,  goes  for- 
ward to  that  awaking  from  the  long  sleep  of  death, 
when  those  who  have  sought  and  obtained  the  favor 
of  God  here,  will  have  joy  and  satisfaction  in  that 
favor  forever.  We  will  then,  my  hearers,  use  this  pas- 
sage in  way  of  general  accommodation  to  that  perfect 
satisfaction  which  we  shall  feel  on  our  final  and  eternal 
awaking  in  the  likeness  or  favor  of  God. 

Here  we  are  satisfied  measurably,  for  here  we 
have  bright  hopes  and  beatific  visions,  and  even  pres- 
ent enjoyments  if  we  are  disciples  of  Jesus,  but  there 


350  THOUGHTS   FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

is  much  to  affect  our  peace  and  joy.  We  are  saved 
bj  hope.  The  future  is  our  golden  era.  In  the  pres- 
ent there  is  much  to  mar  our  joy, — sin,  temptation, 
suffering,  bitter  partings,  sometimes  dark  forebodings. 
We  He  down  to  sleep,  burdened  often,  oppressed  ;  we 
awake  to  renew  the  great  battle  of  life.  It  is  not  till 
we  sleep  our  last  sleep,  and  awake  with  the  eternal 
sunshine  of  God's  favor,  that  we  shall  experience  per- 
fect satisfaction.  When  we  thus  awake  in  the  likeness 
of  God,  we  shall  be  satisfied. 

We  shall  be  satisfied  with  ourselves.  Here,  with 
any  intelligent,  well-conceived  views  of  what  we  are 
and  how  we  appear  in  the  eyes  of  all  pure  and  holy 
intelligences,  we  cannot  be.  You  occasionally  indeed 
see  one  so  puffed  up  with  vanity  and  pride,  so  igno- 
rant of  himself,  his  character  and  standing,  that  you 
justly  but  reproachfully  say,  there  is  one  who  is  well 
satisfied  with  himself,  and  is  well  content  to  be  what 
he  is.  But  his  baser  qualities  not  his  virtues  beget, 
this  feeling,  his  ignorance  not  his  knowledge,  fosters 
it.  All  men  who  have  light  enough  to  see  what  they 
are  as  compared  with  any  elevated  standard  of  judg- 
ment, are  dissatisfied  with  themselves.  They  are 
justly  so.  It  is  no  mock  modesty  that  prompts  them 
to  say  and  to  feel  so.  But  when  they  awake  in  God's 
likeness,  they  will  have  this  dissatisfied  feeling  no 
longer.  They  will  have  no  occasion,  for  what  caused 
dissatisfaction  with  themselves  was  sin.     Take  away 


PERFECT    SATISFACTION   OF    SAINTS   IN    IlEAVEN.     351 

this  cause,  and  the  feeling  departs  with  it.  Enstamp 
upon  their  souls  the  very  image  of  Christ,  and  this 
alone  will  bring  perfect  satisfaction.  They  will  de- 
mand no  lofty  position  in  heaven,  no  exaltation,  no 
peculiar  honors,  nothing  that  shall  mark  and  distin- 
guish them  from  others  to  make  them  satisfied  with 
themselves.  Such  feelings  and  desires  will  have  no 
place  there:  it  will  be  enough  to  awake  in  the  perfect 
likeness  of  God,  to  bring  the  most  perfect  satisfaction. 
Their  imaginations  will  satisfy  them, — their  thoughts, 
their  desires,  their  motives,  their  wills,  their  words, 
their  acts  wall  satisfy  them.  All  tliat  they  are  within, 
all  that  they  do  without,  will  satisfy  them.  There  will 
be  none  of  that  unrest,  that  disafi'ection  with  ourselves 
which  w^e  now  feel.  Alas,  how  often  are  we  com- 
pelled to  experience  this  !  How  often  when  the  day 
is  over,  with  its  wild,  tumultuous  voices,  and  the  still, 
calm  night  comes  when  w^e  retire  from  the  world  to 
commune  with  our  own  hearts  ;  how  often  as  we  cast 
the  eye  back  on  the  past,  do  w^e  find  cause  for  bitter, 
stinging  reflections  !  Tlie  acts  that  may  have  seemed 
externally  correct,  have  perhaps  been  wrong  or  im- 
perfect in  motive.  Sin  has  mixed  with  all  that  we 
have  said  or  done ;  if  our  general  aim  has  been  right, 
how  far  short  have  we  come  of  making  our  life  cor- 
respondent with  it.  flow  does  conscience,  if  it  be 
rectified  and  sensitive,  reprove  us  for  the  tilings  for 
which  the  world  has  commended  us  !     Kothing  that 


352  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

we  do  satisfies  us,  and  it  is  only  as  we  resort  anew  to 
the  blood  of  sprinkling  to  have  our  stains  washed  away 
and  conscience  stilled,  that  we  can  retire  cahnly  to  rest. 
I^ow  when  we  awake  in  God's  likeness,  we  shall  have 
no  occasion  for  any  of  these  feelings.  We  shall  perform 
no  errand  of  love  dissatisfied,  feeling  that  we  should 
have  done  better.  We  shall  pause  at  the  close  of  no 
era  in  eternity,  and  glancing  back  find  food  for  re- 
morse. Conscience  as  a  reprover  will  be-  heard  no 
more,  its  voice  will  never  utter  a  rebuke.  Blessed  state 
when  we  shall  be  satisfied  justly  with  ourselves. 

We  shall  be  satisfied  with  our  place  and  our  posi- 
tion there.  We  believe  we  shall  occupy  a  specific 
locality,  that  there  will  be  one  spot  which  the  re- 
deemed will  call  home.  It  will  be  a  local  home.  We 
shall  not  be  limited  or  confined  to  it  any  more  than 
we  are  here.  Our  mortal  home  may  be  a  small  spot, 
and  yet  we  have  the  range  of  the  world ;  and  so  heaven 
may  as  a  locality  be  relatively  to  the  universe  a  limited 
sphere,  and  yet  it  may  be  our  home.  The  universe 
we  may  range  there,  as  we  do  the  earth  here,  yet  as 
we  are  so  framed  here  as  to  love  one  spot  which  we 
may  call  home,  so  there  amid  all  our  wide  journey- 
ings  in  the  vast  empire  of  God,  discerning  and  appre- 
ciating its  wonders,  we  may  be  so  constituted  as  to 
desire  a  specific  spot  which  we  may  call  home. 

We  believe  there  is  but  one  Being  who  is  not 
local ;  but  one  Being  wlio  inhabits  the  whole  of  eter- 


PERFECT    SATISFACTION    OF    SAINTS    IN    HEAVEN.     353 

nity  and  all  the  universe.  All  finite  creatures  are 
local,  and,  I  believe,  demand  a  centre.  The  redeemed 
want  a  centre — a  home  just  as  we  do.  They  want  a 
trjsting  place  to  which  thej  can  return  from  their 
journeyings — a  place  to  which  they  can  look  from  far 
with  the  mind's  eye,  and  which  shall  exert  the  same 
influence  upon  them  there  that  home  does  here.  We 
should  find  little  pleasure  in  being  turned  out  into 
this  great  creation  of  God  to  travel  as  we  might  list. 
"We  might  journey  forever  on  our  path  and  never 
meet  an  old  acquaintance.  We  want  to  feel  that 
we  shall  all  gravitate  to  one  spot,  and  we  doubtless 
shall.  The  Bible  is  full  of  representations  of  a  local 
heaven,  and  is  thus  in '  correspondence  with  the  de- 
mands of  our  nature.  And  when  we  reach  and  awake 
in  it,  we  shall  be  satisfied  to  dwell  there  and  make  it 
our  home,  and  be  content  with  our  position.  Be  it 
what  it  may,  we  shall  be  satisfied  with  it,  and  in  this 
shall  be  unlike  ourselves  here,  wliere  we  often  are 
in  a  position  that  displeases  us,  perhaps  properly,  and 
perhaps  improperly.  Certain  it  is  that  our  satisfac- 
tion in  this  respect  there  will  not  arise  from  any  dis- 
tinction we  may  reach. 

There  is  a  vast  deal  of  meaning  in  that  passage 
of  Scripture  that  afiirms  that  God  shall  be  "All 
and  in  all."  Here  man  is  much — great  men  are 
much,  and  are  much  talked  of,  but  tlierc  man  will 
sink,  and  God  will  be  all.     And  wherever  we  may 


354  THOrGHTS   FOR   THE   CHRIBTIAI^   LIFE. 

"be,  whatever  post  we  may  occupy,  we  shall  be  sat- 
isfied with  it. 

We  shall  be  satisfied  with  our  companions,  and 
for  the  same  reasons  that  we  shall  be  satisfied  with 
ourselves, — because  they  will  be  in  God's  likeness. 
We  often  become  dissatisfied  with  companions  here. 
Indeed,  there  is  but  one  relation  in  which  constant 
intercourse  is  not  likely  to  breed  disaffection.  Con- 
stantly with  those  to  whom  we  are  not  bound  by  the 
strongest  of  all  ties,  we  discern  so  many  points  of 
divergence,  so  many  faults,  that  we  are  likely  to  find 
the  proverb  true  that  "  Familiarity  begets  contempt." 

Most  people  are  not  good  enough  to  live  with 
themselves  always,  and  indeed,  if  it  were  not  for  the 
privilege  of  parting  with  ourselves  every  night  in  our 
slumbers,  and  meeting  again  to  say  good  morning  on 
the  morrow,  I  think  we  should  be  absolutely  worn  out 
with  our  own  presence.  Now  if  with  all  our  self-love 
we  do  become  weary  of  ourselves,  it  is  hardly  to  be 
accounted  strange  if  we  should  become  weary  of  each 
other.  ISTarrowness,  faults,  outjutting  diversities  beget 
dissatisfaction,  but  when  we  awake  in  God's  likeness 
and  mingle  together  in  heaven,  we  shall  not  need 
walls  to  part  us  as  we  do  here.  We  shall  be  good 
enough  to  live  in  one  home,  and  that  forever.  The 
theatre  of  heaven  will  be  as  broad  as  the  universe. 
There  will  be  a  great  telegraphic  centre  from  which 
shall  start,  and  to  which  shall  return  all  those  mes- 


PEKFEGT   SATISFACTION   OF   SAINTS   IN   HEAVEN.     355 

sages  which  will  give  zest  to  the  converse  of  heaven. 
Old  themes  will  be  ever  receiving  new  interest  from 
the  addition  of  new,  and  the  old  will  be  ever  estab- 
lishing new  and  beautiful  connections  with  the  new, 
so  that  there  will  be  fresh  food  for  meditation  and 
communication.  There  will  be  ever  presenting  them- 
selves new  aspects  of  the  character  and  works  of  God. 
Every  moment  will  exhibit  new  features  of  excellence 
and  glory.  Thus  the  dwellers  in  heaven,  so  good,  so 
earnest  to  know  more  of  God,  so  unselfish,  so  mature, 
so  knowing,  will  be  ever  satisfied  with  each  other. 

We  shall  be  satisfied  with  our  employments.  Ee- 
garded  specifically,  we  do  not  know  what  they  will 
be.  "We  shall  doubtless  be  employed,  constantly, 
usefully,  to  the  full  capacity  of  our  powers.  Christ 
tells  us  as  the  master  did  his  steward,  ^'  Occupy  till 
I  come ;  "  and  when  He  shall  have  come.  His  com- 
mand will  still  be  "  Occupy."  Talent  will  be  differ- 
ently employed,  but  probably  still  more  usefully  than 
it  is  here.  We  can  be  useful  here  in  certain  ways 
perhaps  in  which  we  shall  not  be  there,  but  usefully 
occupied  we  doubtless  shall  be.  If  we  could  eliminate 
from  our  ideas  of  labor  all  that  fatigues  and  exhausts, 
it  might  be  safe  to  say  that  there  will  be  labor  there. 
There  will  be  intense  though  not  constant  applica- 
tion to  the  great  themes  of  eternity,  and  the  problems 
of  God's  government. 

With  all  our  employments  we  shall  be  satisfied. 


366  THOUGHTS   FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

Here  it  is  not  and  cannot  be  so.  We  maj  indeed  be 
satisfied  with  tliem  in  the  sense  of  submitting  to  them 
— being  resigned  to  them — taking  them  for  what  they 
were  designed,  as  trials  of  onr  patience,  as  disciplines 
of  onr  powers ;  but  not  satisfied  with  them  in  the 
sense  of  delighting  in  them  for  their  own  sake.  Few 
would  be  content  to  spend  an  eternity  in  plying  the 
sledge  to  a  drill  on  yonder  ledge,  or  in  doing  the  work 
which  a  steam-engine  and  trip-hammer  could  do  more 
effectively  than  a  man  with  a  soul  in  him.  We  can 
be  content  to  do  these  things  temporarily,  and  for 
ulterior  ends,  but  not  eternally  and  for  their  own 
sake.  There  are  a  great  many  things  that  have  to  be 
done  in  this  world  that  nought  but  stern  hunger  or 
still  sterner  duty  would  induce  a  being  with  a  heart 
and  brains  in  him  to  do.  We  do  them  from  a  sense 
of  duty,  not  because  we  deem  it  a  privilege.  But 
when  we  awake  in  God's  likeness,  all  our  employ- 
ments will  be  sought  and  engaged  in  for  their  own 
sake.  They  will  be  more  and  better  to  us  than  the 
play  of  the  child,  for  they  will  be  the  play  of  full- 
grown  men,  and  will  give  us  the  most  delightful  satis- 
faction. We  shall  seek  and  engage  in  them  with 
alacrity  and  untiringly. 

We  shall  be  satisfied  with  all  the  arrangements 
and  decisions  of  God.  We  should  be  so  here,  and  we 
are  so  in  so  far  as  faith  prevails.  But  there  we  shall 
be  satisfied  more  intelligently,  if  I  may  so  speak.   The 


PERFECT   SATISFACTION    OF   SAINTS    IN    HEAVEN.     357 

Apostle  in  reference  to  this  point  says,  that ''  We  shall 
know  even  as  we  are  known."  The  mystery  of  the 
Divine  government,  so  far  as  it  is  concerned  with  this 
world  at  least,  is  to  be  measurably  cleared  np.  Now 
we  believe  all  is  right — then  we  shall  know  that  all  is 
right.  Now  we  are  satisfied  without  knowing — in 
the  dark.  Then  w^e  shall  be  satisfied  in  knowing, 
or  in  the  light.  Here  we  stand  under  the  cloud  and 
say,  "  He  doeth  all  things  well."  There  we  shall 
stand  amid  the  full  splendors  of  the  sun  and  say, 
"  All  is  well." 

We  do  not  mean  to  say  that  God  will  ever  bring 
all  His  plans  and  decisions  within  the  limits  of  our 
knowledge.  Far  from  it.  There  will  always  be  scope 
for  faith.  And  yet  with  reference  to  a  vast  mmiber 
of  the  appointments  and  doings  of  God,  we  shall  be 
enabled  to  say  that  we  are  satisfied,  not  because  we 
believe,  but  because  we  know.  We  shall  emerge  from 
the  darkness  into  the  light.  With  all  the  decrees  of 
God  we  shall  be  satisfied. 

We  shall  be  satisfied  with  our  prospects.  Here 
our  outlook  is  often  dark.  Eternity  looks  gloomy — 
we  shrink  back  from  its  bosom.  It  seems  to  us  a  dark 
profound  into  which  no  light  shines.  It,  and  what  is 
in  it,  we  dread,  and  look  away  from  it  back  into  what 
seems  comparatively  a  warm,  sunny  world.  We  are 
aware  that  this  avails  not,  that  we  are  borne  on  to  it 
just  as  fast  when  we  shrink  as  when  we  hasten — still 


358  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

we  shrink.  Sometimes  we  get  the  better  of  our  dread. 
Sometimes  only  this  little  spot  looks  dark,  and  the 
light  shines  yonder.  We  fear  the  present  more  than 
the  future,  time  more  than  eternity ;  but  it  is  not 
always,  perhaps  not  generally  so.  We  fear  what  is 
before  us,  and  it  is  right  that  we  should  do  so,  for  the 
terrible  and  final  judgment  is  before  us.  That  day 
is  to  come  in  which  our  destinies  for  immortality  will 
be  decided.  And  he  that  has  no  fear  of  the  judgment, 
is  either  better  or  worse  than  most  men,  than  most 
disciples.  But  then  all  solicitudes  as  to  our  locality 
and  destiny  will  have  ended.  We  shall  be  satisfied 
with  the  present,  but  still  more  so  with  our  future. 
There  will  be  the  prospect  stretching  away  infinitely, 
growing  brighter  and  brighter  till  the  burnished  eye 
can  look  no  farther. 

When  we  awake  in  GodJs  likeness, — friends  !  what 
are  your  prospects  of  awaking  in  the  likeness  of  God  ? 
We  shall  all  sleep  in  death,  and  we  shall  all  awake 
and  come  forth.  To  some  it  will  be  an  awaking  to 
shame  and  everlasting  contempt ;  no  satisfaction,  but 
an  unrest,  deepening,  growing  forever.  Others  will 
awake  to  glory,  in  the  likeness  of  God,  and  they  will 
be  satisfied  forever. . 


XXXIII. 

THE  ETERNITY  OF  THE  AFFECTIONS. 

Tour  heart  sJiall  livefore'cer. — Psalm  xxii.  26. 

IF  unaided  reason  were  called  to  answer  the  chal- 
lenge, "  O  Death,  where  is  thy  sting? " — it  would 
only  have  to  point  ns  to  the  myriad  deathbeds  of  earth 
and  say,  It  is  there  /  or  if  called  to  answer  that  added 
challenge,  "  O  Grave,  where  is  thy  victory  ?  " — it 
would  only  have  to  take  us  to  the  vast,  teeming 
sepulchres  of  the  dead,  and  say.  It  is  there.  Deatli 
has  been  ever  planting  its  stings,  and  the  grave  has 
been  ever  proclaiming  its  victories. 

Wherever  culture  has  made  sensitive  the  delicate 
susceptibilities  of  our  nature,  there  loving  hands  have 
closed  the  dying  eyes  of  the  loving.  As  we  come  up 
nearer  to  the  true  ideal  of  humanity,  as  we  give 
greater  depth  and  scope  to  our  noblest  powers,  as  we 
imbed  ourselves  sweetly  and  tenderly  down  among 
living  and  tnie  souls,  and  become  interlinked  here 
and  there  with  the  best  of  our  race,  directing  all  our 


360  THOUGHTS   FOK   THE   CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

culture  in  life  to  finer  issues,  we  become  more  suscep- 
tible to  the  sorrows  of  separation,  and  more  stricken 
as  we  part  with  those  we  love. 

Death  makes  sad  havoc  in  these  homes  of  ours — 
these  sanctuaries  to  which  we  flee  for  refuge  in  the 
stern  battles  of  life.  In  the  places  where  God  and 
nature  commission  us  to  garner  our  dearest  treasures, 
there  we  are  most  deeply  wounded.  And  to  these 
agonizing  sunderings  of  strong  bonds,  we  would  sum- 
mon no  stoical  indifference.  We  would  remember 
that  the  grief  we  suffer  is  the  measure  of  our  love, 
and  we  would  commit  no  suicide  upon  our  true  life 
for  the  exemption  it  would  give  us  from  pain.  In 
living  souls  there  must  be  agony  when  the  cords  are 
severed  that  bind  souls  together.  It  is  the  dead  only 
whom  we  can  wound  without  pain.  Better  far  train 
our  natures  to  their  highest  capacities, — open  our 
souls  to  all  the  griefs  that  come  to  us  in  hours  of  sep- 
aration— bow  in  tears  over  the  coffins  and  the  graves 
of  our  precious  dead, — perceive  truly  all  the  wreck 
that  death  hath  wrought ;  and  then  as  we  look  upon 
the  still,  calm  face  of  the  sleeper,  comfort  and  elevate 
ourselves  with  the  thought,  ''  Yom-  heart  shall  live 
forever." 

It  is  fitting  to  think  and  to  speak  of  the  immortal 
life,  the  eternity  of  the  affections.  I  need  not  say  that 
all  things  in  the  kingdoms  of  nature  and  of  grace  are 
for  those  and  those  only  who  receive  them.   The  warm 


THE  ETERNITY  OF  THE  AFFECTIONS.       361 

sunshine,  all  the  beautiful  sights  of  heaven  and  earth, 
all  the  sweet  sounds  that  fill  the  air,  are  for  those  who 
have  senses  to  perceive  and  minds  to  appreciate  them. 
And  in  the  higher  domain  of  grace,  all  the  precious 
promises  are  made  to  those  who  seek  and  prize  them. 
It  is  said  of  the  good,  of  those  whose  spirits  have  been 
quickened  and  permeated  by  the  Divine  Spirit,  that 
their  hearts  shall  live  forever  in  the  true  and  lasting 
home  of  all  noble  and  allcgiant  souls. 

The  heart  is  the  treasure-house  of  the  soul,  where 
are  gathered  its  most  precious  jewels.  Pluck  out  the 
heart  from  the  man,  and  you  rend  away  that  which 
gives  him  his  highest  value  in  the  eyes  of  all  intelli- 
gent creatures.  Scan  the  history  of  the  race — unroll 
the  records  of  the  generations  that  have  been,  and 
that  which  gives  to  them  their  highest  interest,  is  the 
hearts  that  have  lived,  joying  and  weeping,  hoping 
and  fearing,  loving  and  hating.  Suppose  generations 
to  have  existed  without  hearts,  and  we  would  almost 
as  soon  delve  in  the  tombs  that  contain  their  ashes, 
as  in  the  scrolls  that  bring  them  to  our  memories. 

As  with  the  men,  so  with  the  literature  of  the 
past, — it  is  awakening,  refreshing,  appealing,  only  as 
it  is  of  and  from  the  heart.  The  heart  of  man  in  its 
essential  traits  is  ever  the  same  in  all  times  and  in  all 
countries  ;  and  the  books  only  that  portray  the  heart 
in  its  varied  and  complex  workings,  can  be  of  peren- 
nial interest. 

16 


362  THOUGHTS   FOK   THE   CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

And  as  with  the  books,  so  with  the  work  of  men. 
The  heart  that  has  been  put  into  it,  alone  redeems  it 
from  drudgery,  elevating  and  dignifying  it.  l^othing 
that  has  been  done  by  the  myriads  who  have  died  and 
left  no  sign,  has  been  wholly  ignoble,  that  has  been 
done  from  the  heart  and  to  gratify  its  purer  affections. 

The  humble  many  who  have  worked  in  the  un- 
noticed tasks  of  life,  and  whom  history  no  more  names 
than  it  does  the  insects  that  built  the  coral  reefs  of  the 
Pacific  Seas,  have  yet  shown  the  higher  types  of  life 
as  they  have  wrought,  not  in  the  spirit  of  slaves  or 
of  petty  rivalry  or  for  pelf,  but  to  furnish  the  scanty 
meals  of  those  they  loved.  And  to-day,  all  over  the 
world,  the  work  that  goes  on  in  the  w^orkshop,  on  the 
farm,  on  the  sea,  in  far-olf  retreats,  on  the  mountain 
slopes  and  in  the  valleys,  is  ennobled  and  joined  with 
the  w^ork  of  the  immortals  as  it  is  wi'ought  with  the 
heart.  Lubricate  toil  with  the  affections,  and  it  can- 
not be  mean.  The  toiler  who  leaves  his  humble  hut 
in  the  morning,  to  labor  in  the  summer  sun  till  the, 
evening  shadows  call  him  home,  and  all  from  the 
promptings  of  his  tenderest  feelings,  is  one  of  God's 
noblemen. 

And  in  the  sweeping  wars  that  have  rolled  over 
the  centuries  like  a  blast  from  the  desert,  in  the  bat- 
tles under  whose  dun  mantle  thousands  have  fallen 
stark  and  stiff,  or  bit  the  dust  in  agony,  the  one  single 
element  of  enduring  interest  that  has  mingled  in  them 


THE   ETEENITY    OF   THE   AFFECTIONS.  863 

and  redeemed  them  as  a  whole  from  the  charge  of 
inhuman  butchery,  has  been  the  heart  in  them  bent 
on  protecting  kindred  and  country  from  rapine  and 
slaughter.  Look  out  upon  the  dwellings  that  dot  the 
landscape,  go  through  the  crowded  streets  of  the  city, 
and  it  is  pre-eminently  the  heart  that  is  in  all  these 
homes  that  makes  them  sweet  and  attractive. 

The  joys  of  the  world  and  its  sorrows, — the  smiles 
at  meeting,  the  tears  at  parting,  the  gladness  at  births, 
the  agonies  at  deaths, — all  are  of  the  heart.  From 
the  heart  go  out  the  threads  by  which,  in  the  silent 
loom  of  time,  the  race  is  woven  into  one  continuous 
fabric.  The  heart  links  worlds  together,  heaven  and 
earth,  with  stronger  bonds  than  the  mighty  power  of 
gravitation.  Wherever  hearts  throb,  thither  hearts 
turn.  Speak  of  homes  over  the  sea  where  grief 
broods,  want  cowers,  ignorance  sits  in  shadows,  guilt 
trembles,  sin  festers,  and  fear  points  to  an  awful  here- 
after, and  thither,  as  though  called  by  the  voice  of 
God,  truthful,  loving,  compassionate  hearts  are  drawn. 
It  is  the  heart  of  God  that  turns  Him  with  tenderest 
pity,  with  Almighty  help  to  our  lost  world.  He  gives 
His  heart  to  the  world,  and  He  asks  but  the  world's 
poor  heart  in  return. 

The  heart  of  the  world  beats  heavily  at  the  portal 
of  a  thousand  new-made  graves  to-day,  and  in  a  tliou- 
sand  stricken  households.  And  over  the  dying  beds 
of  those  we  love,  over  the  forms  that  lie  clad  for  their 


364  THOUGHTS   FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

last  retreats,  over  the  graves  that  we  plant  with  flowers 
and  other  and  more  enduring  memorials  of  our  affec- 
tion, there  is  no  question  that  we  ask  with  half  the 
earnestness — none  that  we  send  out  into  the  world 
whither  the  loved  have  gone,  with  half  the  interest 
as  this, — "  Do  they  love  there  yet  ?  "  And  there  is 
no  response  so  consoling  as  this,  "  Their  heart  shall 
live  forever."  Once  let  the  heart  be  quickened  with 
a  true  life,  come  into  connections  with  the  Fountain 
of  Life,  feel  its  dry  channels  moistened  and  filled  from 
the  upper  and  abiding  sj)rings,  and  then  though  the 
body  die,  though  all  that  we  saw  and  touched  shall 
fade  away,  yet  the  heart — invisible  like  all  spiritual 
essences,  viewless  as  God  Himself, — the  heart  mani- 
festing itself  in  the  eye,  trembling  in  the  voice,  prompt- 
ing to  all  cheerful  aids,  and  yet  never  seen  by  the 
bodily  eye, — it  shall  live  forever. 

When  we  say  that  the  heart  thus  living  in  the 
true  Fountain  of  Life,  Jesus  Christ,  whose  exhaust- 
less  resources  can  never  fail,  shall  live  forever,  we  do 
not  of  course  mean  that  it  shall  go  out  into  the  invisi- 
ble world  unattended,  unencompassed,  unwinged  with 
thought,  imagination,  fancy, — unguided,  nnimpelled 
by  will,  widowed  and  solitary.  Rather  shall  it  go 
with  these  as  its  blessed  retainers  and  pursuivants, 
with  these  as  the  trailing  garments  of  its  glory,  with 
these  as  servants  to  attend  it  and  do  its  behests.  The 
heart  as  the  central  power  of  the  soul — as  giving 


THE  ETERNITY  OF  THE  AFFECTIONS.       365 

it  its  true  character,  assigning  it  its  true  honor,  shall 
peculiarly  and  emphatically  live. 

Yes,  the  affections  shall  live  forever,  ^one  of 
them  shall  be  lost  in  their  transit  to  the  other  and 
better  world, — none  of  them  shall  be  left  behind,  none 
buried  in  the  dark  sea  of  oblivion,  but  all  shall  be 
carried  safely  through.  I  know  it  is  a  conception  of 
some,  even  highly  spiritual  persons,  that  we  are  to 
drop  in  the  passage  to  heaven  our  natural  affections, 
— that  in  tlie  home  of  pure  souls,  in  the  society  of  the 
congenial  and  sanctified  brotherhood  of  Jesus,  where 
all  will  be  linked  in  sweet  affinities  with  all,  there 
will  be  no  scope  for  the  simply  natural  affections, — 
that  these  are  for  a  time, — the  calyx  of  the  flower 
that  may  fall  away  wlien  it  has  bloomed  out  in  im- 
mortal fragrance  and  beauty  in  heaven.  These,  it 
may  be  said,  give  grace  and  attractiveness  to  earth, 
give  quiet  nooks  and  shelter,  within  which  spirits  may 
be  protected  while  they  are  in  training  for  heaven, 
but  will  be  absorbed  in  a  higher  beauty  there.  I  will 
not  say  that  there  will  be  no  penetrating  with  Diviner 
affections,  no  tempering,  no  modification  of  these 
lower  ones.  There  doubtless  will  be.  On  that  Mount 
of  Glor}"  they  will  be  transfigm-ed.  But  then  the 
soul  will  not  be  dwarfed  to  reach  its  perfections.  It 
need  not  suffer  any  elimination  of  the  elements  that 
gave  it  its  highest  attractiveness  here  in  order  that  it 
may  enter  a  higher  society  there.    The  personal  aftec- 


366  THOUGHTS    FOR    THE    CHKISTIAN    LIFE. 

tions  need  not  yield  to  the  universal.  If  our  noblest 
idea  of  heaven  is  that  of  a  blessed  family  with  the 
great  Jehovah  as  the  Father,  shall  we,  must  we,  when 
there,  eradicate  the  very  affections  that  gave  us  our 
sweetest  conceptions  here  of  heaven  ?  Must  earth 
be  all  forgotten,  that  heaven  may  be  sweet  ?  Must 
the  play  of  earthly  feelings  and  attachments  all  be 
swept  away,  that  the  ecstasy  of  present  joys  may  be 
perfect  ?  Must  there  be  no  tenderer,  special  love  for 
the  mother  and  the  father  into  whose  eyes  we  looked 
in  infancy,  and  whose  first  training  glance  was  heaven- 
ward, and  whose  first  word  perhaj^s  was  of  that  other 
Father  who  folds  all  in  His  heart  and  covers  all  with 
His  shield  ?  Shall  brothers  and  sisters  with  whom  we 
talked  in  childhood,  and  of  whom  we  learned  in  part 
what  love  meant, — shall  these  be  to  us  as  those  who 
come  up  to  the  one  home  from  foreign  shores — dear, 
indeed,  and  yet  strangers  ?  It  may  not,  cannot  be.  I 
would  believe  anything  rather  than  that. 

The  heart — the  whole  heart  shall  live  forever  ; — 
not  a  thi-ead  in  its  braided  glory,  not  a  tint  in  its 
blessed  radiance  will  be  gone.  Special  remembrances, 
special  affections,  soft  clingings  to  those  who  gave  us 
being  and  shared  with  us  the  same  hearts  and  homes, 
will  not  be  at  all  incompatible  with  the  attachments 
that  we  shall  give  and  love  to  give  to  those  who  have 
come  up  from  all  lands  and  all  times — the  elder  and 
the  later  dwellers  of  earth,  who  have  washed  their 


THE   ETERNITY    OF   THE   AFFECTIONS.  367 

robes  and  made  tliem  white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb. 
It  would  be  nnfilial  even  in  heaven  not  to  love  with 
a  special  love  those  who  gave  ns  birth.  The  soul 
drops  none  of  its  primal  elements  in  that  better  clime. 
We  shall  love  there  those  whom  we  love  here.  The 
heart, — yea,  all  of  it^  shall  live  forever. 

I  have  said  that  the  affections — those  that  are 
special,  those  that  are  general  and  universal,  those 
that  fasten  upon  God,  and  those  that  cling  to  kindred 
and  friends,  shall  all  live  ; — I  also  say  that  they  will 
live,  as  we  now  can  but  poorly  appreciate  or  conceive. 

All  life  is  but  weak  and  feeble  here.  It  is  so  soon 
met  and  overtaken  by  death — it  is  so  perpetually 
under  its  shadow  and  so  darkened  thereby,  that  we 
gain  but  faint  notions  of  it  at  best.  It  grows  only  as 
it  can  grow  here  in  continual  conflict  with  death,  and 
is  soon  o'ermastered  by  it  and  falls  crushed  beneath 
its  tread. 

And  the  heart's  truest  life,  the  life  it  has  from 
God  and  in  common  with  Him,  scarcely  gets  started  in 
the  wintry  atmosphere  of  this. world.  It  merely  gives 
us  hints  in  the  larger  and  better  spirits  of  earth,  of 
what  it  is  and  may  become.  God  puts  great  hearts 
before  us  now  and  then  simply  as  prophecies  of  the 
heart's  possibilities.  In  the  hereafter,  the  affections 
will  give  an  idea  of  life  such  as  we  can  now  only 
dimly  conceive  of.  They  will  have  nothing  to  hinder 
their  development  in  that  realm  of  life,  but  everything 


368  THOUGHTS    FOR   THE   CHRISTIAN    LIFE. 

to  advance  it.  Here,  their  life  is  like  the  animal  and 
vegetable  growth  of  the  Polar  regions,  dwarfed  and 
restrained  by  wintry  winds  and  biting  frosts.  They 
meet  with  checks  and  hindrances  to  their  develop- 
ment manward  and  Godward, — in  absorption  in  the 
world's  business — in  the  multiplicity  of  its  cares — 
in  the  weariness  of  the  body,  rendering  torpid  the  sus- 
ceptibilities of  the  soul — in  the  isolations,  the  coldness, 
the  discords  of  life — in  the  rareness  of  noble  examples 
showing  what  hearts  may  be — in  the  dimness,  the  con- 
tradictions, the  divisions,  the  sectarianisms  of  earth — 
in  the  faint  apprehensions  of  God,  of  Christ,  of  eter- 
nity ; — in  all  these  we  find  sad  clogs  to  the  growth  of 
the  heart's  higher  life. 

But  in  heaven,  all  these  will  be  gone.  There  will 
be  found  all  that  can  give  elevation,  expansion,  depth, 
power  to  the  affections,  clearness  of  insight  into  spir- 
itual realities,  the  overshadowing  presence  and  inflow- 
ing glories  of  God,  the  purest  society  of  congenial 
spirits,  all  whose  ways  and  all  whose  attractions  will 
be  on  high,  noble  examples  of  the  affections  in  lovely 
embodiment,  sweet  amenities,  open  souls  all  about  us 
with  prompt  hospitalities  and  fellowship  ; — everythmg 
to  inspire  us  to  flow  out  in  confidence  and  love, — no 
repressions  or  repulsions,  all  inviting  to  perpetual  out- 
gushings  of  heart, — God  the  Father  over  us  and  all 
good  souls  about  us.  These  will  be  the  incitements, 
the  nourishment  of  our  affections  ;  and  in  this  Divine 


THE   ETERNITY    OF   THE   AFFECTIONS.  369 

atmosphere,  with  this  warm  sunshine  resting  on  them, 
playing  around  them  and  penetrating  to  their  very 
roots  and  spring,  they,  like  tropical  plants,  will  have  a 
growth,  exhibit  a  luxuriance,  effloresce  in  a  beauty 
now  inconceivable  to  us.  The  heart  that  has  ever 
been  really  quickened  to  a  Divine  life,  that  has  ever 
been  put  beside  the  beating  heart  of  God  and  felt  its 
Divine  pulsations  however  faintly,  such  a  heart  shall 
live  forever. 

I  have  said  that  it  is  the  heart  that  gives  to  life  its 
true  value.  A  world,  a  nation,  a  city,  a  community, 
a  home  without  hearts  is  dead — with  them  it  is  alive. 
And  what  we  have  to  contend  with,  in  visitations  of 
death  in  our  homes,  is  a  yielding  to  appearances 
rather  than  to  facts.  Death  as  it  seems^  is  a  teiTible 
thing.  The  body  that  gave  to  us  the  manifestations 
of  the  soul — its  visible  signals,  is  still  and  motionless. 
The  old  methods  of  telegraphing  thought  and  affec- 
tion are  lost.  The  heart  is  still,  the  hands  folded,  the 
eyes  closed,  the  cheek  pallid ; — there  is  no  sign,  no 
motion.  Sense  tells  us  the  soul  is  gone — the  man  is 
dead — the  affections  have  ceased  to  be.  But  no  ! 
Faith  looks  through  appearances  to  realities,  to  the 
soul  itself,  rather  than  to  its  accustomed  manifestations. 
It  says,  the  heart  lives  on  and  on  ; — the  thoughts,  tlio 
affections  are  not  dead,  but  live  and  shall  live  forever. 
We  see  not  the  old  signals — we  shall  sec  them  no 
more;  but  the  great  fiict  survives— our  veritable 
16** 


370  THOUGHTS   FOR  THE   CHRISTIAN   LIFE. 

friend  still  lives.  We  can  bear  that  what  gave  the 
soul  a  temporary  home  and  avenues  of  communica- 
tion should  fade  and  crumble  to  dust,  if  the  soul  itself 
with  all  its  wealth  of  love  survives  for  us, — if  in  leav- 
ing the  body  in  the  earth,  we  may  feel  that  what 
bound  us  to  our  friend  yet  lives  and  blooms  in  im- 
mortal beauty  and  towers  in  ever-growing  strength. 

We  see  then  that  death  looked  at  aright,  through 
the  fitting  medium,  does  not  make  such  sad  havoc  in 
our  affections  as  we  are  at  times  wont  to  suppose. 
The  heart  has  a  perennial  claim  in  all  its  true  posses- 
sions. If  it  is  the  essential  person  that  we  loved,  and 
not  the  mere  transient  shelter  and  medium  of  com- 
munication,— if  our  love  penetrated  the  shell  and 
reached  the  substance, — if  it  enwrapped  the  soul, 
not  the  body, — then  we  may  love  what  we  ever 
loved,  love  it  with  a  purer,  calmer  love,  may  give 
compass  and  force  to  our  love  by  sending  our  thoughts 
out  to  picture  other  scenes,  to  visit  other  homes.  True 
hearts  then  grieve  only  over  separations,  not  over 
losses  ; — over  the  brief  cessation  of  the  mere  signals 
of  affection,  not  over  the  cessation  of  affection  itself. 

Death  extinguishes  nothing — it  only  transfers. 
Souls  that  love  truly  and  worthily  here,  live  and  love 
in  the  same  mansion  ;  when  separated  by  death,  they 
only  live  and  love  in  different  mansions  till  the  lapse 
of  time  brings  them,  if  faithful,  to  live  and  love  in  the 
same  mansion  again. 


THE    ETERNITY   OF   THE   AFFECTIONS.  371 

The  heart  of  the  pious  dead  lives  forever.  Oh  ! 
that  we  might  be  as  faithful  to  our  noblest  affections 
and  our  better  life  as  we  are  sure  they  are !  Time 
will  heal  the  wounds  of  separation,  but  God  forbid 
that  it  should  bring  us  forgetfulness  of  the  precious 
dead,  or  of  the  wealth  we  have  garnered  in  them  ! 

"  Beyond  the  parting  and  the  meeting, 

I  shall  be  soon. 
Beyond  the  farewell  and  the  greeting, 
Beyond  the  pulse's  fever-beating, 

I  shall  be  soon. 
Love,  rest,  and  home  ! 

Sweet  hope ! 
Lord,  tarry  not,  but  come  !  " 

"  Short  death  and  darkness  !     Endless  life  and  light ! 
Short  dimming ;  endless  shining  in  yon  sphere, 
Where  all  is  incorruptible  and  pure  ; 
The  joy  without  the  pain,  the  smile  without  the  tear." 


/" 


\ 


DATE  DUE 

pjl7 

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1 

CAYLORO 

f>RINTEOINU.S   A. 

Theoloqic.tl   Seminary-Speer  Lit 


1    1012  01005  2688 


